At the September 2023 meeting of the City of San Diego Historical Resources Board, members designated four houses. The rest of the meeting was taken up with discussion about Mission Hills’s beloved “Red Bungalow,” designed by Master Architect William Wheeler in 1912. Despite the strong evidence and advocacy to designate the building delivered by Mission Hills Heritage, IS Architecture, SOHO, and many community members, the corner landmark was not designated. You can read about the city and board’s handling of the now demolished Craftsman style duplex in this issue’s article by Mission Hills Heritage.

One house merits a closer look: the Benjamin F. Dillingham III House, designated for its important owner under HRB Criterion B at the meeting. It is the fourth site associated with San Diego’s LGBTQ civil rights movement—although that’s not why the board voted to add it to the local register, so advocates have more work to do. Read Fourth LGBTQ Site Designated Historic in San Diego.

Staff announced that Office of the Independent Budget Analyst (IBA) representatives will present the results and recommendations of their controversial report on the historic preservation program at the October 2023 HRB meeting. SOHO President David Goldberg states his objections to the report at the top of this November-December 2023 issue of Our Heritage eNews. The next news, on top of the IBA report, waves red flags, in preservationists’ view: Staff said, “in the next month or two,” they will share with the HRB and public “a fresh look at the historical preservation program, updating the historical preservation element, some of the regulations, and a comprehensive historical preservation plan, as well as [updating] the city’s website.” Board member Courtney Ann Coyle noted the untimely passing of Abel Silvas, whom she described as “a warrior.” A former HRB member, he was an advocate, educator-entertainer, and archeological and historic site monitor protecting Indigenous tribes, their ancestors, and culture. She also reported that three generations of Kumeyaay people were happy to be present when a historical plaque was dedicated at the east end of Coast Walk, which was preceded by their ancestral trails, in La Jolla. These are the four houses the HRB designated in September:

3675 8th Avenue, in Uptown, is a two-story Craftsman style home designed by Master Architect William Sterling Hebbard and built in 1908. It is designated under Criterion D as a notable work by the architect. Hebbard gave this house Craftsman style features such as a high-pitched gable roof, overhanging eaves, exposed rafter tails, and decorative knee braces. The front façade is an asymmetrical design with a bay window and clapboard wood siding.

4494 Tivoli Street, in the Peninsula Community, is the Benjamin F. Dillingham III House, named for a prominent leader of the LGBQT community. As the openly gay chief of staff to former Mayor Maureen O’Connor and adept in politics and policymaking, Dillingham is recognized with Criterion B. He lived and sometimes worked in this 1927 residence from 1983 to 2017. The designation excludes the rear yard pool and covered terrace structure.

3104 Lytton Street, in the Peninsula Community, is the Robert and Marion Hill House, built in 1929 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. Designated under Criterion C, the three-story house embodies character-defining elements of the style. These include a hipped, cross gable, and shed roof with Mission half-barrel tiles; an asymmetrical façade; fine grain stucco cladding; a wooden paneled entry door; front porch with arches; attached courtyard wall; decorative stucco window screens; stucco chimneys; large focal windows; and wood frame windows of various lite patterns and groupings. The designation includes the original courtyard wall and portico. It excludes the 2021 laundry room addition.

485 San Gorgonio Street, in the Peninsula Community, is a Contemporary style residence with Organic Geometric influences. Named the Lucile Hamilton/Robert Mosher House, it is designated under HRB Criteria C and D with a period of significance of 1967-2015. For Criterion C, the home is a fine example of the Contemporary style and retains a good level of architectural integrity. Its Contemporary features include a strong roof form with deep overhangs; large aluminum framed windows including floor-to-ceiling glass; and sunshades in the form of slat wood pergola overhangs. Organic Geometric elements are the site-specific design; use of natural materials of cedar wood shingles; large balconies; rectilinear building geometry; asymmetrical façades; and unusual projecting roof pergolas with wood slats. It fulfills Criterion D as a notable work of Master Architect Robert Mosher; the original design is intact. Mosher continued to contribute improvements decades after the home was constructed. Reportedly, this house was Mosher’s self-proclaimed favorite residential project from his entire body of work.

4210 Palmetto Way, in Mission Hills, is the Morris and Ida Irvin Spec House #3, built in the Craftsman style in 1920. The designation includes the original detached garage. It meets HRB Criterion C by embodying distinctive characteristics of the style, including a low-pitched roof with wide overhanging eaves, exposed rafter tails, gull wing roof line, porch with large round stucco columns on square piers, a generally symmetrical façade, fine grain stucco cladding, and wood frame windows of various lite patterns and groupings. It is also designated on Criterion D for being a notable work of Master Builder Morris B. Irvin and retains integrity of the original design. Specifically, the house reflects Irvin’s work in the Craftsman style using elephantine columns and gull wing roof line.