The Impact of the Fires on
San Diego's Historic sites

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We have been receiving many calls and emails from the public and members in regard to the historic sites that the fires may have affected. At this time verifiable information is scarce due to limited access.

Anyone with confirmed information about the status of cultural and historic sites in the damaged areas, please contact firedamagehistoricsites@sohosandiego.org

Help for these sites will be essential, but first, the situation must be stabilized and more information must be gathered. Since many of the affected areas cannot be entered at present, we urge citizens to help us to identify compromised sites. San Diego County alone has over 16,500 known archaeology sites as well as over 1500 significant historic structures.

From the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, read Technical Brief 20: Archeological Resource Damage Assessment: Legal Basis and Methods.
(34-page PDF)

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Historic Sites Fire Update
All site reports were made by SOHO field assessment team unless otherwise noted.
Click on thumbnails to view larger.

Ballena

• Schoolhouse - c. 1880's
  Reported lost 10/24/07, 10:06am, by SOHO member Steve Van Wormer
  Confirmed lost
  

• Littlepage House - 1870's
  Reported lost 10/24/07, 10:06am, by SOHO member Steve Van Wormer
  Confirmed lost
  

Barona

• Adobe Ranch House, Tribal Center
  Spared. 10/27/07, 11:40am

• Irving Gill Church
  Spared. 10/27/07, 11:41am

• Irving Gill experimental cottages
  Spared. 10/27/07, 11:42am

Bonita

• Bellinger House - c. 1880's
  Spared
  

• U.S. Grant, Jr. House - 1890's
  Spared. 10/27/07, 7:16pm

Camp Pendleton

• Rancho Santa Margarita y las Flores - 1868
  Spared
  

Del Dios Community

• Several Craftsman Homes - 1920's
  Lost. 10/31/07, 5:22pm

De Luz

• Hotsprings Hotel - 1881
  Spared. 10/31/07, 5:54pm
  

Dulzura

• Dulzura Café
  Reported Spared. 11/1/07, 2:05pm by Gail Wright

Escondido
We are not aware of any other losses of historic properties in the Escondido area. Reported by Fire Department Public Information Officer Carol Rea (Board President of Old Escondido Historic District). Tuesday, 10/23/07, 11:27pm

• Sikes Adobe - 1869
  Reported heavily damaged, 10/22/07, 7am, by SOHO member Cathrine Laguna
  
  
  Severely damaged, 1870's wood section completely gone, only its adobe walls standing.
  
  
  Read about Sikes Adobe history

Fallbrook

• Alvarado Adobe - c. 1850's, on Rancho Monserate on the San Luis Rey River
  Spared. 10/25/07, 5pm

• Town Center - c. 1880's
  Spared. 10/31/07, 5pm

Guejito
Spared


Highland Valley

• Winery - 1919
  Lost
  

Jamul

• Bratton House - late 1800's
  Lost
  

• Honey Springs Ranch - c. 1930's
  Main buildings lost, one outbuilding survived
  

• Jamul Schoolhouse - 1880's
  Spared. 10/27/07, 7:08pm

• Pico/Daley Adobe - 1840's
  Spared. 10/27/07, 7:10pm

• Simpson House - 1890's
  Still standing (sighted by television monitor) 10/24/07, 10:06am
  Confirmed Spared. 10/27/07, 4pm

• Winnetka Ranch/Harvey Homestead - 1880's adobe
  Main house safe, adobe bunkhouse heavily damaged.
  

Lyons Valley

• Old Schoolhouse - c. 1890's
  Spared
  

Otay

• Spreckles Hunting Lodge - 1910's
  Spared. 10/27/07, 7:25pm

Pala

• Mission - 1820's
  Spared. 10/31/07, 5:51pm
  

Pamo Valley

• Adobe - 1940's
  Heavily damaged. 11/28/07, 12:50pm
  

• Dairy barn & silo - 1910's
  Lost, only foundation and silos remain. 11/28/07, 12:50pm
  

• Native American Adobe
  Heavily damaged. 11/28/07, 12:50pm
  

Pauma Valley

• Adobe Indian Chapel - 1880's
  Spared. 10/31/07, 5:51pm
  

• Serrano Adobe Ranch - 1860's
  Spared. 10/31/07, 5:05pm

Ramona

• Barnett Adobe - 1885
  Spared. 10/26/07, 8:07pm

• William Flack House - c. 1895
  Reported lost 10/27/07, 7:23pm, by Heather Thomson
  

• Gilbough House - c. 1888
  Spared. 10/26/07, 5:15pm

• Montecito/Cagney Adobe - 1880's
  Spared
  

• Stokes Adobe - 1870's
  Spared. 10/24/07, 11:54am

• Warnock Adobe - 1860's, at Santa Teresa
  Spared
  

Rancho Santa Fe

• Cliff May house on El Vuelo - c. 1960's
  Spared. 10/31/07, 5:18pm

• Juan María Osuna/Crosby Adobe - c. 1840's
  Spared, 10/31/07, 5:10pm
  Read about this adobe

• Leandro Osuna Adobe - c. 1830's
  Reported spared, 10/26/07, 10am, by Kathleen Kelly Markham
  
  Read about this adobe

• Lilian Rice Town Center - c. 1920's
  Spared. 10/31/07, 5:15pm

San Pasqual Valley
Read about this area

• Clevenger House - c. 1872
  Lost
  

• Fenton Ranch - c. 1930's
  Heavily damaged, hopes to reopen soon
  

• Judson House, Eastlake - c. 1896-97
  Lost
  

• Judson House, Italianate - c. 1880's
  Lost
  

• Old Adobe Schoolhouse - c. 1882
  Heavily damaged
  

• Peet-Haley House - 1908
  Lost
  

• Rockwood Ranch Barn - 1882
  Lost
  

• Rockwood Ranch House - 1881
  Spared - Read about this historic ranch
  

• San Pasqual Store - 1930's-40's
  Lost
  

• Trussell House - 1890's
  Spared
  

Sutherland Dam

• Stone house & main ranch house - c. 1860's (actual date unconfirmed)
  Spared. 10/26/07, 5:15pm

Witch Creek

• Sawday barn - c. 1900
  Spared
  

• Sawday House - c. 1882
  Spared
  

Tecate (US side)

• Thing Brothers Store - c. 1890's
  Reported lost. 11/1/07, 2:05pm by Gail Wright
  

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SOHO is conducting a damage assessment report as we are permitted into the areas. This allows us to develop preservation recommendations for each individual site.

Information on a relief fund and volunteer opportunities will be available soon. The challenges in San Diego County will require an extraordinary cooperative effort in preservation, restoration and reconstruction.

Communication lines are open with our Partners at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Western Region, the State Office of Historic Preservation, SHPO Wayne Donaldson, County Parks through County Historian Lynne Christenson and City of San Diego HRB senior planner Cathy Winterrowd.

SOHO will set up a Relief Fund in the days following the fires for sites that have been compromised.

"Of course the human needs are enormous," says SOHO Executive Director Bruce Coons, "and our hearts go out to the more than 500,000 people evacuated from their homes and those who have lost their homes and possessions, our job is to be sure that the cultural heritage of San Diego County is preserved for all of the citizens and generations to come. One of the many dangers in a disaster situation is that a historic site will be bulldozed before an assessment or the proper protection can be made for a site."

Funds raised will provide for the rehabilitation and restoration of damaged sites. We may also have to pay for additional help for damage-assessment teams to travel to historic sites, both public and private. The assessments will be used to support and assist organizations and groups with their efforts to restore properties.

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Office of Historic Preservation posts Wildfires & Historic Resources page

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