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Marston House Museum

After-Hours Group Tours

Six Tours to Choose From


Are you looking for unique local tour opportunities for your group? SOHO offers docent-led tours outside of our regular operating hours which can be customized to meet your group's needs. *Only the first floor of the museum is wheelchair accessible.


Marston House Guided Group Tour

The 8,500-square-foot Marston House, with its extensive grounds and outbuildings, provides a rare glimpse into the lifestyle of one of San Diego's most prominent and progressive families. Learn about the family, and the master architects and landscape designers who worked with them to create one of the region's most important estates. Tours are led by a knowledgeable docent. For bus tours, the driver is complimentary. Depending on docent availability, we can accommodate up to 48 visitors within two hours, 15 per 45-minute tour.

  • All group tours require a minimum of 10 people
  • Groups of more than 12 will be broken into smaller numbers
  • Must be reserved at least one week in advance
  • Must be paid for at time reservation is made
  • Cancellations must be made at least 12 hours in advance for refund
  • Allow 60 to 90 minutes for your home tour at the Marston House, to include the use of restroom facilities, and allow extra time if you wish to view the public gardens as well
  • Tour starts at the Marston House Museum Shop in the carriage house

Adults

  • $25 per person

Senior Citizens

  • $15 per person

Reserve your date and purchase tickets HERE


Bankers Hill Walking Tour

The sloped terrain of Bankers Hill, near downtown San Diego, is blessed with pedestrian bridges over canyons and views of San Diego Bay that few affluent professionals and first families and their architects could resist. This 90-minute guided walking tour contains new content inspired by SOHO's celebration Irving Gill: Progress & Poetry in Architecture. These city blocks are rich in the early 20th-century Modern architecture that Gill pioneered and include the largest concentration of Gill homes built anywhere, on hidden Albatross Street. *Directions to the tour location will be provided at time of reservation.

  • All tours require a minimum of 10 people
  • Groups of more than 20 will be broken into smaller numbers
  • Must be reserved at least one week in advance
  • Must be paid for at time reservation is made
  • Cancellations must be made at least 12 hours in advance for refund
  • Tour starts on the northwest corner of Albatross Street and West Walnut Avenue, San Diego 92103

Adults

  • $25 per person

Senior Citizens

  • $15 per person

Reserve your date and purchase tickets HERE


Seventh Avenue Walking Tour: A Progressive Vision

What began as a ten-acre, barren enclave owned by George W. Marston is now the shady and secluded 3500 block of Seventh Avenue, a cul-de-sac that is perfect for a one-hour guided walking tour. This tour contains new content inspired by SOHO's celebration called Irving Gill: Progress & Poetry in Architecture. The Marston House Museum & Gardens is one of about ten homes on the street, built between 1905 and 1913. Many were designed by Gill, when he was a partner in Hebbard & Gill, and they illustrate his design progression from English Arts & Crafts to Prairie Style to his ultimate triumph, cubistic Early Modernism-all in the space of two years, 1905 and 1906.

  • All tours require a minimum of 10 people
  • Groups of more than 20 will be broken into smaller numbers
  • Must be reserved at least one week in advance
  • Must be paid for at time reservation is made
  • Cancellations must be made at least 12 hours in advance for refund
  • Tour starts at the Marston House Museum Shop in the carriage house

Adults

  • $25 per person

Senior Citizens

  • $15 per person

Reserve your date and purchase tickets HERE


Marston House Garden Guided Tour

With its uniquely California interpretation of the English Romantic and Arts & Crafts period landscape designs, this tour is a must for garden lovers. The garden tour takes you on an easy walk through two and a half acres of the estate beginning with the first plantings and landscape plan by nationally recognized landscape architect Samuel Parsons, Jr., and George Cooke in 1905 to the 1928 introduction of a formal garden. *The Garden Tour is hosted seasonally from March to October.

  • All tours require a minimum of 10 people
  • Groups of more than 20 will be broken into smaller numbers
  • Must be reserved at least one week in advance
  • Must be paid for at time reservation is made
  • Cancellations must be made at least 12 hours in advance for refund
  • Tour starts at the Marston House Museum Shop in the carriage house

Adults

  • $25 per person

Senior Citizens

  • $15 per person

Reserve your date and purchase tickets HERE


Architectural Details of Master Architects Hebbard & Gill Tour

Take a walk on the architectural side with a 90-minute guided tour of the 1905 Marston House Museum inside and out. The San Diego firm of Hebbard & Gill designed the inviting English Arts & Crafts mansion with fluid indoor-outdoor connections. Irving Gill, who soon became San Diego's pioneering Modernist, created many of its design features and innovative conveniences. The story begins at the carriage house for the estate (now SOHO's Marston House Museum Shop), then circles around the house in its Balboa Park and formal garden setting. Inside and out, architectural and construction details and period materials are highlighted, and include the Marston family's public and private rooms. *Only the first floor of the museum is wheelchair accessible.

  • All tours require a minimum of 10 people
  • Groups of more than 15 will be broken into smaller numbers
  • Must be reserved at least one week in advance
  • Must be paid for at time reservation is made
  • Cancellations must be made at least 12 hours in advance for refund
  • Allow 60 to 90 minutes for your home tour at the Marston House, and allow for extra time if you wish to view the public gardens as well
  • Tour starts at the Marston House Museum Shop in the carriage house

Adults

  • $25 per person

Senior Citizens

  • $15 per person

Reserve your date and purchase tickets HERE


Private VIP Tours

Private, after-hours docent-led tours of the Marston House Museum are available Monday through Friday, between the hours of 10am and 4pm.

Our private, after-hours tour provides an intimate opportunity to explore the 8,500-square-foot Marston House, allowing for a rare glimpse into the lifestyle of one of San Diego's most prominent and progressive families. Learn about the family, and the master architects and landscape designers who worked with them to create one of the region's most important estates. Trained and very knowledgeable docents lead this 60-minute guided tour. The extensive grounds can be explored at your leisure before or after your tour. *Only the first floor of the museum is wheelchair accessible.

  • Two-person minimum is required for a private after-hours tour
  • Must be reserved at least one week in advance
  • Must be paid for at the time reservation is made
  • Cancellations must be made at least 12 hours in advance for refund
  • Allow 60 to 90 minutes for your home tour at the Marston House, to include the use of restroom facilities, and allow extra time if you wish to view the public gardens as well
  • Your tour guide will meet you at the front door of the museum at your appointed tour time

$30 per person

Reserve your date and purchase tickets HERE

MARSTON HOUSE MUSEUM & GARDENS

3525 Seventh Avenue, San Diego 92103
(619) 297-9327

Tours

Third Sunday Tours

Hours of Operations · Admission
Directions & Parking
Group Tours
School Group Tours (K-12)

Museum Shop
Film & Photography Permits
Wedding & Venue Rental

The Marstons: A California Story
History Series

Exhibits

Online Exhibits

Online Jigsaw Puzzles

Coloring Pages

Read more about the Marston House

In the News

Mailing - PO Box 80788 · San Diego CA 92138 | Offices - 3525 Seventh Avenue · San Diego CA 92103
Phone (619) 297-9327 | Offices closed due to COVID until further notice | Museums & Shops (619) 297-9327
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