Sailplane pilot William S. Ivans's soaring, cantilevered home, 1961. Photo courtesy the California Historical Resources Inventory Database (CHRID)

In 2021, the number of historical resources designations in the City and County of San Diego totaled 49. As has been the case for a number of years, the majority of new landmarks are houses.

The City of San Diego Historical Resources Board (HRB) added 48 new landmarks to the city's roster but that number was subsequently reduced by two, for a total of 46. Regrettably, despite the protests and advocacy of SOHO, other preservation groups, and community members, the City Council overturned two designations. They are the Florence Hotel Carriage House (c.1888) and an associated resource at 328 Grape Street downtown; and the Whitson Company Medical Office Building (1964), 550 Washington Street in Hillcrest. Master Architect William S. Lewis, Jr. of Deems Martin and Associates, designed the iconic Mid-Century Modern tower.

San Diego County's Historic Site Board designated three homes: one from 1928 by Master Architect Lilian Rice in her signature Spanish Colonial Revival style in Rancho Santa Fe, and two houses on Mt. Helix in La Mesa. The architect is unknown for the Jennie C. Berensen House, designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival style in the 1930s. Master Architects William F. Cody and Henry Hestor collaborated on a California ranch house in 1956, during their brief partnership.

Among the most notable designations by the city's HRB are the soaring, 1961 home of William S. Ivans, a renowned sailplane and glider pilot, with a glass-enclosed "prow" that cantilevers out over a La Jolla hillside; and early homes that two master architects designed for themselves and their families. Sim Bruce Richards' 1948, organic house in Point Loma with sweeping bay views remains highly livable. Homer Delawie's boxy, innovative home from 1958 takes advantage of a steep, then-affordable lot (due to the design challenges) and focuses the inhabitants' views away from the street in Mission Hills.

Designation of the Balboa Park Carousel, a swirl of hand-carved animals with a painted backdrop (c. 1910), seems long overdue. On the other hand, Mr. Robinson, a collection of stacked, breezy rental lofts by master architect and developer Jonathan Segal built in 2015 in Hillcrest, is the newest building ever designated in the City of San Diego. Though the two overturned designations mentioned above were disappointing, the City Council upheld several contested ones, as noted in the year's report. SOHO, other preservation groups, and community members helped immeasurably in these efforts. We highlight just two here:

• The unusual 1909 house at 540 Thorn Street and Sixth Avenue in Hillcrest. SOHO strongly advocated for this rare architectural design, a Tudor Revival style house with both Richardsonian Romanesque and Arts and Crafts movement influences.
• The California Theatre (1927) revitalization project, a combination of preservation and adaptive reuse for market rate and affordable housing. SOHO worked for many years to save this deteriorating, long-shuttered downtown building. We ultimately succeeded thanks to SOHO members and other advocates who publicly supported its designation and the project, and the latest in a series of developers, Caydon Property Group.

For your reference and reading pleasure, here are all the new landmarks, each accompanied by a photograph and description. We hope you'll find this roundup useful; however, merely scrolling through to view the photos provides a rewarding survey of the diverse historical architectural styles we value today.

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