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Encinitas Boathouses Added to National Register
By Jaye MacAskill
September/October 2019
 The Encinitas Boathouses, SS Encinitas and SS Moonlight. Photo by Dan Chusid |
A major preservation triumph for the region occurred with the National Register designation on August 1 of one of the best surviving examples of early 20th-century vernacular "roadside" architecture on the Southern California coast. The Boathouses, a quirky pair of two-story residences, were constructed on 3rd Street in Encinitas around 1930. Closely resembling real boats, these neighborhood landmarks have been a delight to passers-by for nearly a century.
Miles Minor Kellogg, a colorful local businessman and builder, created the Boathouses. Originally from Benton Harbor, Michigan, Kellogg is said to have spent his early adult years as a lake pilot. Today, his whimsical historic rental cottages are rare relics left over from the exciting, yet fleetingly brief, "Programmatic" building craze of the early 1900s. The rapid rise of vernacular, fantasy-inspired commercial and residential architecture in California at that time was heavily influenced by Hollywood imagery. Fueled by the emergence of automobile culture and the sharp influx of new residents and tourists, "roadside" architecture reinforced the state's popular image as a dreamland with virtually limitless possibilities. Many free-spirited, ambitious, creative, and entrepreneurial people were drawn west by the promise of the "California Dream." In pursuit of their own unique versions of the dream, Kellogg and others chose to make bold and unconventional architectural statements like the incomparable Boathouses.
The California State Historic Resources Commission vote to add the Boathouses to the National Register is a major achievement for the owners, the Encinitas Preservation Association. The non-profit group purchased the property in 2008, having formed the previous year to save these coastal icons. With historic designation accomplished at last, the association will now pursue grant money to help preserve and restore these extraordinary homes for the benefit of the entire community.
Read more HERE
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