Save Our Heritage Organisation
Magazine
By David Marshall, AIA
After 22 years of failed proposals by well-meaning but under-funded private interests, the Balboa Theatre at Fourth Avenue and E Street in downtown San Diego has finally been restored. The Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC) came to the rescue of this historic landmark, digging into their own coffers of tax increment funds, they contributed over $26 million to make the project a reality. Work on the 1924 icon included not only the restoration of finishes, but seismic strengthening, disabled access compliance, and all new utilities.The Balboa Theatre was almost demolished in 1959 for a parking lot, but was spared by Russo Enterprises who turned it into an action-movie house. The former vaudeville and movie palace, designed by San Diego architect William Wheeler, was placed on the local Historic Register in 1972. The Balboa Theatre Foundation successfully added it to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. In October 2002, the CCDC proceeded with renovation of the Balboa Theatre for use by non-profit performing arts groups and to host midsized Broadway shows.
My firm, Heritage Architecture & Planning (HAP), was the Associate Architect and Preservation Consultant for theater architects Westlake Reed Leskosky. Fellow HAP architect Curtis Drake and I were in the trenches during the five plus years of planning and restoration of the Balboa Theatre. This photo essay is intended to show the reader what it takes to successfully complete a project of this magnitude, complexity, and beauty.balboa_theatre_slideshow
David Marshall, AIA, is a former member of the city's Historical Resources Board, a past president of SOHO, and author of "San Diego's Balboa Park." All photographs were taken by the author, Alex Eberle, and Curtis Drake, of Heritage Architecture & Planning.
More from this issue
- From the Editor
By Alana Coons- The Balboa Theatre - Anatomy of a Restoration
By David Marshall, AIA- The Balboa Theatre - An 18-year Redevelopment Battle
By Welton Jones- Survivors of San Diego's Theatrical Past
By Welton Jones- Professional Theater Comes to San Diego
By Dean Glass- Googie: An Architectural Link to San Diego's Midcentury Culture
By Kristin Reichardt Kirwan- North Park's Neon
By George Franck- A General Plan of Destruction
By Bruce Coons- Preservation Community
- Unearthing Long-Buried Whaley House Cistern
By Dean Glass- Reflections
- Strength in Numbers - Membership
- Donations
- GoodSearch.com
- Lost San Diego
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