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Mission Hills’s Beloved Little Red Bungalow Demolished
By Mission Hills Heritage
November/December 2023
 The Little Red Bungalow, as it was known, seen when it was home to the popular Maison en Provence shop. Courtesy Marielle and Pascal Giai
 The former site of the William Wheeler-designed Red Bungalow (1912), which was demolished on October 5, 2023. Photo by Juli Peters Hyde |
Despite a heroic effort by Mission Hills residents, the Craftsman bungalow on the corner of Goldfinch Street and Fort Stockton Drive and affectionately known as the “Little Red Bungalow,” fell under the wrecking ball on October 5, 2023. The demolition brought to a sad end the community’s concerted effort, backed by Mission Hills Heritage and SOHO, to save the bungalow on site and to encourage its adaptive reuse as part of a proposed project.
The iconic Craftsman bungalow was designed by Master Architect William H. Wheeler early in his career and built by the firm of McFadden and Buxton in 1912. One of San Diego’s rare one-story duplexes, it featured two full Craftsman porches, two clinker brick chimneys, decorative beams, and a low-pitched, wide roof.
See this earlier article for more about the bungalow’s history, popularity, and recent events after a Los Angeles-based developer bought it.
A series of irregularities began occurring with the City of San Diego and the new owner/developer. After first commissioning a report that showed the bungalow qualified for historic designation, the developer filed a second evaluation to the contrary. The second evaluation emphasized the building’s deteriorating condition; however, condition is not relevant to any criteria for historic designation. Mission Hills Heritage and SOHO submitted rebuttal comments to city staff. With conflicting information in hand, instead of forwarding the property to the full Historical Resources Board (HRB) for determination, as is typical practice, city staff made a ministerial decision that the property was not eligible for designation.
Mission Hills Heritage opposed the ministerial decision and hired IS Architecture to prepare and submit a third historical evaluation report and nominate the bungalow for historical designation. MHH’s report concluded that the bungalow qualified for designation under three HRB criteria. City staff was required to forward the nomination to the full HRB for hearing, but staff also issued a report to the HRB recommending no designation.
The HRB heard the matter on September 28, 2023, beginning shortly after 1pm. Mission Hills residents packed the room, concerned for the fate of the Little Red Bungalow.
More irregularities ensued. While the bungalow was listed first on the agenda, ahead of four other items, the board decided to move it to last, even though two board members indicated they would need to leave the meeting early. After the other matters were heard and after a longer than planned recess, the board finally took up the item at about 3:15 pm. Public testimony was shortened from three minutes to one minute per person due to the meeting’s time constraints. This decision compressed the organized, pro-designation presentations by IS Architecture and Mission Hills Heritage, while the developer’s presentation finished with time to spare. Nevertheless, numerous community members spoke passionately about saving the Little Red Bungalow.
Earlier, the HRB chairman recused himself due to a conflict of interest and left the meeting. Another board member left the meeting after board discussion but before voting began. The two departures and another absence reduced the number of members present to eight.
A board member moved to adopt the staff report recommendation not to designate the property. When one board member voted against the motion, an individual within the developer’s team in the audience was observed wildly gesticulating with hand signals towards the board. The vice chair called a recess, and the same person approached the meeting table and engaged in private discussions with staff and some of the board members—a possible violation of the Brown Act.
When the meeting resumed, the motion not to designate failed by a vote of three in favor, five against. A board member then moved to designate the bungalow. The vote was five in favor, three against. But because the HRB rules require a minimum of six votes to designate a property historic—regardless of the number of board members present—the motion failed by one vote. The meeting ended around 5:20 pm without designating the bungalow.
The next day, MHH filed an appeal of the HRB decision with the City Clerk, citing as grounds the irregularities that took place at the meeting. But city staff interpreted its ordinances to not allow appeal of a failure to designate, rejecting our appeal out of hand without setting a hearing before the City Council. City staff then issued a demolition permit to the developer/owner of the bungalow.
The developer demolished the bungalow and two adjacent buildings one week after the HRB hearing. Community members held a rally next to the empty lot the following Saturday to express their shock and anger at the outcome of the city’s process, and the loss of a landmark building that helped define community character and a sense of place for generations of Mission Hills residents.
While some people argue that historic preservation stands in the way of development and new housing, others recognize the opportunity to incorporate historic resources into new projects to make projects better. This strategy, which preserves our collective heritage, has been successfully employed repeatedly in San Diego and nationwide.
Adaptively reusing historic buildings is also an important goal for sustainable development, as recognized in San Diego’s own General Plan and the Uptown Community Plan. The Little Red Bungalow could have been incorporated into the project that will encompass the adjoining properties and adaptively reused for the benefit of the community and future users.
Instead, the developer hauled it to the landfill.
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