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City of San Diego Historical Resources Board
2024 Preservation Award Winners
By Ann Jarmusch
July/August 2024
SOHO applauds the City of San Diego City Planning Department for reviving the Historical Resources Board’s Preservation Awards program, after a long hiatus since 2016. Individuals, groups, businesses, and public agencies were once again invited to nominate projects and programs. The HRB’s policy subcommittee selected six winners who received Awards of Excellence during Preservation Month, at the board’s meeting on May 23, 2024.
IS Architecture, led by Ione R. Stiegler, FAIA, received three of the six awards. Significantly, in view of preservation’s potential to create new housing, two winners were lauded for adapting historic homes into new affordable housing units and for using sustainable practices and materials.
You can watch the taped awards presentation, followed by the HRB meeting, on YouTube.
SOHO congratulates the six winners! Their projects appear here in the order in which they were announced.
Talmadge Historical Society
The THS was honored for exemplary volunteer-run research, identification, and documentation efforts within the Talmadge community that led to successfully nominating Talmadge Park subdivisions as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. THS created an innovative web-based database that volunteer field surveyors of nearly 600 resources accessed through a smart phone or iPad to record individual parcels’ current condition and character-defining features. Another original THS site allowed homeowners, past and present, to enter their property’s history, photographs, drawings, and other information. Both tools could be adapted for use by other groups and researchers.
Descendants of Early San Diego
For exemplary efforts in historic preservation education, outreach, and stewardship, this group received an Award of Honor. DESD collects and manages genealogical information, documents, photographs, and stories of early San Diego families and their descendants, which they estimate to be 80,000 individuals. They conduct annual meetings of descendants, share historical family stories, and showcase a deep research collection. The group’s free genealogical website offers searchable records and collaboration on research and record keeping.
The Truax House Restoration
Built in 1912, the Truax House in the Uptown area is significant in San Diego’s LGBT history. Dr. Brad Truax created a safe haven and treated AIDS patients here during the 1980s-1990s epidemic. The owner’s Nakhshab Development & Design firm renovated and adapted the house in 2019; that same year the HRB added it to the City’s historic register. The adaptive reuse now offers 10 housing units.
The Ruth Smith & Louise Neece/Lloyd Ruocco & Homer Delawie House Rehabilitation
This Mid-Century Modern duplex designed by prominent San Diego Master Architects Ruocco and Delawie in La Jolla received recognition for comprehensive rehabilitation and expansion by IS Architecture. The firm remodeled the first-floor interior, and added a second story and third-floor view deck. The project preserved the designated historic resource and integrated key design techniques from the original architects. Beyond historic preservation and sustainable design, the project contributes to affordable housing by maintaining the duplex as two rental units.
San Ysidro Historic Customs House Rehabilitation
The rehabilitation of the 85-year-old Customs House at the San Ysidro Land Port of Entry incorporates restoration of the Spanish Revival style building and a compatible contemporary addition, both by IS Architecture. The project enables the two-story historic building, designed by architect James A. Wetmore, to perform a vital and improved role for pedestrians and vehicles entering or leaving the United States at the busiest land border crossing in the Western Hemisphere.
 Before and after photos of the San Ysidro Historic Customs House Rehabilitation
Mission Beach Boardwalk Cultural Landscape Reconstruction
The .3-mile section of the Mission Beach Boardwalk and its cultural landscape, as reconstructed by IS Architecture, reflects the history of the boardwalk and amusement center, which are eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Years of deferred maintenance and improper repairs left the heavily used Mission Beach Boardwalk in an unrecognizable state. The architects conducted archival research, investigative demolition, new mock-ups, and historic monitoring of construction, which included partially reconstructing the seawall, the boardwalk, and the light standards to their historic appearance. The project reflects the history of the boardwalk and amusement center, and attracts throngs of San Diegans and tourists alike.
 Before and after photos of the Mission Beach Boardwalk restoration
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