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SOHO's 2022 Most Endangered List
Historic buildings, landscapes, and sites contribute to San Diego’s distinct character, convey our stories and achievements, and represent our heritage. Yet important landmarks in our cities, the backcountry, coastlines, and desert are threatened each year—or worse, lost forever. For decades, SOHO has maintained an excellent record of preventing major heritage losses through advocacy, preemptive negotiations, public awareness, and education.
The annual Most Endangered List is one of our most effective tools in letting people know which threatened places most need attention. It’s a red flag for residents, property owners, decisionmakers, developers, business owners, and more. The list focuses attention on rare and iconic, at-risk buildings and places, and encourages intervention and viable solutions in accordance with preservation standards that will give old places new life.
The 2022 roster includes the downtown San Diego California Theatre and Caliente Racetrack Sign, which is returning to the list after several years’ absence. Paths to preservation are complex—and who knew its owner-developer would go bankrupt. Seven significant resources throughout San Diego County, carried over from last year, round out the list.
The longer the wait for restoration or rehabilitation, basic maintenance, and protection, the higher the risk of losing irreplaceable historic resources. Of the seven buildings, places, and trees on the 2022 list, one was nearly destroyed by fire, several are unsecured and attract vandals and vagrants, and the buried remains of the 18th-century Spanish presidio could be damaged, if not destroyed. All of them remain in grave danger, so SOHO is sounding the alarm.
This year’s Most Endangered List encompasses urban, rural, and seaside landmarks and landscapes we can’t afford to lose. They range from the internationally important Presidio Park in Old Town San Diego to the little-known, abandoned 1891 Barrett Ranch House in Jamul. In Poway, the rustic Big Stone Lodge is strong on boulders and timbers found nearby, while La Jolla’s redwood Red Rest and Red Roost cottages from 1894 are fragile by comparison.
In National City, Granger Hall is known for its perfect acoustics, but music making ceased there long ago. And some of the Kensington neighborhood’s 112-year-old, shade-giving, California pepper trees bit the dust, literally. Crews sent by the City of San Diego reduced them to sawdust, until appalled residents stood by the trees to protect them.
The loss of a familiar, meaningful old tree, historic artist’s cottage, or popular, Roaring Twenties theater in San Diego can be appalling, hurting entire populations or just one person. In fact, recent studies found that spending time in and around historic buildings, places, and cultural landscapes gives people a sense of well-being and, perhaps, an awareness of belonging to a culture that is larger than themselves.
There’s some good news, too: SOHO removed five historic buildings, places, and projects from the 2021 list. Threats to these resources are no longer imminent, although they may rise again. SOHO remains vigilant in tracking all five: Chase Bank, Consolidated Aircraft/Old Town Campus NAVWAR, the Hillcrest Commercial Core Historic District, the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, and the Pottery Canyon Kiln.
Meanwhile, SOHO is keeping a watchful eye on the 2022 Most Endangered List’s eight community treasures, monitoring their condition, circumstances, and prospects for beneficial resolutions, while also seeking new ways to advocate for their preservation.
Learn more about the resources in the menu at right.
California Theatre & Caliente Racetrack Sign,
San Diego |
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The deteriorating California Theatre in downtown San Diego is back on the Most Endangered List after it was removed in 2018. The developer that bought the property near City Hall recently declared bankruptcy—before any work was done on the 1927 Spanish Colonial Revival style landmark. SOHO had reached a preservation agreement... Read more |
Barrett Ranch House, Jamul |
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This 131-year-old, two-story rural farmhouse, built in 1891, continues to suffer from neglect and vandalism inside and out. This rare surviving example of our fast-disappearing ranching heritage is at serious risk. Its worsening condition has kept it on the Most Endangered List since 2014. The wood facades and architectural details, such as... Read more |
Big Stone Lodge, Poway |
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Designated as Poway Historic Site 16 and eligible for the California Register of Historical Resources as a historic district, Big Stone Lodge and related buildings are laudable for their rustic architectural style built with local natural materials: huge boulders and massive timber. Notable Poway people built Big Stone Lodge to attract visitors... Read more |
Granger Music Hall, National City |
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A year ago, SOHO and other preservationists and music lovers lobbied for moving Granger Hall to nearby Pepper Park and rehabilitating it under the Port of San Diego’s master plan. Despite funding and promoting new waterfront parks, the Port took no interest in this early masterpiece designed by renowned architect Irving Gill, who... Read more |
Kensington Pepper Trees |
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Tall, stately California pepper trees with broad shade canopies add beauty and history to Kensington’s scenic streets. Planted c. 1910, they are as old as the community’s mostly Spanish Colonial Revival style homes and shops, and an integral part of its charismatic identity. In 2018, residents submitted a “Conserve-a-Tree” application for 37 remaining... Read more |
Presidio Park, Old Town San Diego |
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Presidio Park has held a four-alarm spot on SOHO’s Most Endangered List, first in 2005, when plans for a destructive City of San Diego makeover loomed, then from 2016 to the present, for reasons including lack of maintenance. Presidio Park, which includes the Junípero Serra Museum, is one of the most significant historical... Read more |
Red Roost and Red Rest Bungalows,
La Jolla Cove |
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As SOHO’s longest-running preservation battle, the Red Roost and Red Rest cottages have endured more than a quarter century of deliberate neglect and flagrant disregard of City of San Diego laws that protect designated historic resources. Built in 1894 and now 128 years old, they were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. SOHO has... Read more |
REMOVED
Chase Bank, Pacific Beach |
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Chase’s redevelopment project is no longer planned for the site of this original Home Savings and Loan Bank branch. SOHO had listed it on MEL to protect its outstanding mosaics by the prominent artist Millard Sheets and to prevent demolition of its...Read more |
Consolidated Aircraft/Old Town Campus NAVWAR, San Diego |
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This huge development is now, thankfully, on hold. Iit would have forever altered Old Town San Diego, the Consolidated Aircraft facilities, and nearby areas by adding tall, multi-story buildings arranged as densely as downtown. As a U.S. Navy project, local building... Read more |
Hillcrest Commercial Core Historic District,
Uptown |
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Removed but not forgotten, as SOHO continues to work with residents, stakeholders, and the City of San Diego on the ongoing Hillcrest Plan Amendment process. The city released a draft Hillcrest... Read more |
Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego |
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Redevelopment activity appears to be on hold. However, SOHO expects the Marines to eventually resume weighing their options for the busy MCRD, where male and female platoons must be integrated. Any solution will likely... Read more |
Pottery Canyon Kiln, La Jolla |
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With no current project threat, we are cautiously optimistic. This wood-burning kiln, on a private lot next to Pottery Canyon Natural Park, is a fragile adobe structure that was at the heart of a successful pottery founded by Mexican immigrant Cornelio Rodriguez... Read more |
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2022
Back on the List
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