At the November 2023 meeting of the City of San Diego Historical Resources Board the last meeting of the year, members designated four houses. After his 1920 Craftsman home on Falcon Street was added to the San Diego historic register, the owner addressed the board in a way that surely affirmed their own commitment to preservation: “We are thrilled! We love the house!”

The board also voted 5-0-2 (5 in favor, 2 abstentions) to discuss at January 2024 Policy Subcommittee meetings the HRB’s potential response to the city’s Independent Budget Analyst’s controversial July 2023 report called “Response to the Request for Analysis of Potential and Designated Historical Resource Review.” You can read about this report online in SOHO President David Goldberg’s November-December 2023 column and read the report itself.

Here are descriptions of the four houses that are now officially San Diego historic resources:

2330 Fort Stockton Drive, Mission Hills, is the Mary Sample/William Wahrenberger Spec House #1, built in 1914. An example of the Airplane Bungalow subtype of the Craftsman style, it is designated under HRB Criteria C, for architecture, and D, for Master Builder William Wahrenberger. The Airplane subtype is seen in the second-story “lookout” room with its ribbon of windows offering panoramic views. Additional character-defining features include multi-light and single-light wood-framed windows, multi-gable peaked roofs and a flat shed roof, wood shingle siding, a brick chimney, a partial-width front porch with brick piers and wood posts. exposed beams, and decorative attic vents. It meets Criterion B as a rare example of an Airplane Bungalow home by Wahrenberger and an early work from his 50-plus-year career. The designation excludes the 1963 detached “hobby room” and the 2012 rear addition.

3914 Falcon Street, in Hillcrest, is the Ralph Hurlburt/Alexander Schreiber Spec House #4, produced in 1920 by this Master Designer/Master Builder team, respectively, during their brief partnership. For designation on HRB Criterion B, it retains Craftsman style elements, including a partial-width front porch, battered columns set on square piers that continue to the ground, double-hung and cottage-style wood-framed windows, a low-pitched roof, unenclosed eaves with exposed rafters, and exposed purlin beams. For Criterion D, it represents a notable work of Master Builder Schreiber with Master Designer Hurlburt contributing to the high-quality design. The designation excludes the detached, converted garage and the swimming pool.

4499 Hermosa Way, Uptown Community, is named the Clinton Abbott/William Templeton Johnson/ Brawner & Hunter House, and was built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style in 1923. The two-story home is designated for Abbott, a notable person (HRB Criterion B), who lived here from 1923 to1944; Master Architect Johnson (D); and Master Builders Brawner & Hunter (D); along with recognition of its architecture (C). A leading conservationist in the San Diego region, Abbott was the San Diego Natural History Museum’s director (1922-1944) and oversaw the building’s construction and conversion to a hospital during WWII. Abbott was also a strong advocate for the establishment of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in 1928 to protect rapidly declining desert species. Among its 1923 Spanish Colonial Revival style features are an asymmetrical stucco facade, recessed arched entry and arched door, arched sleeping porch, courtyard, low-pitched tile roof with little eave overhang, varied roof forms, Juliette balconies, decorative ironwork, stucco chimney, arched windows, and wood-framed windows. Architect Johnson employed one of his favored residential architectural styles here and the resource exemplifies his high design quality. The home also reflects masterful residential construction techniques by Brawner & Hunter. The designation includes the original garage and the Don Quixote tile bench. The designation excludes the 1987-1988 lap pool and pool structure, the modified tiled pond feature, and the gazebo.

1817 Dale Street, in Golden Hill, is the Amelia and Clara Ives House, a Spanish Colonial Revival home built in 1927. It meets HRB Criterion C for retaining architectural integrity of the style, such as an asymmetrical facade; a combination of roof forms, including flat and gabled; parapets with crenelated corner details; a clay tile roof cover; stucco cladding with sand finish; arched front entry patio with a wooden door, and wood-framed tripartite and double-hung windows. The designation excludes the 1983 addition, the 2016-2017 addition, and the detached covered cabana.

721 J Avenue is a Spanish Colonial Revival style house built in 1929 by Chris Cosgrove for H. V. Schaeffer. It meets two Historic Resource Commission Criteria, which is the minimum for designation. They are Criterion C (a distinct architectural style that is unaltered or minimally altered) and D (a notable work, in this case, by an accomplished builder). Spanish Colonial Revival features generally include asymmetrical facades and stucco exterior; rectangular or L-shaped massing; towers; courtyards; fountains; red clay tile roofs; minimal eaves; carved wood entry doors with rounded arches; arched wing walls; wrought-iron balconies, window grilles, railings, and lanterns; elaborate chimney tops; decorative exposed roof beams, vents, and tiles; and ornamental “punched” wall openings. Cosgrove, who lived and worked in Coronado, is credited with building a dozen historic homes, seven of them in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. This one stands out as having a high degree of integrity and reflects Cosgrove’s original design, materials, and workmanship. Courtesy Google street view