Save Our Heritage Organisation
27th Annual
2009 People In Preservation Award WinnersThe following twelve individuals and groups will be honored by Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO), California's oldest continuously operating historic preservation group, on May 29, during National Preservation Month.
Lifetime Achievement Award Robert Miles Parker
Parker set SOHO in motion by posting a sign that read "Save This House" and his phone number in front of the Victorian-style Sherman-Gilbert House in San Diego. An artist and former art teacher who has published several books of his architectural drawings, said recently, "I want to think of SOHO as a continuum." He noted the group's evolution from saving one Victorian home to a countywide organization that protects neighborhoods, cultural landscapes, transportation corridors and archeological sites, along with individual landmark buildings. He moved to New York in 1987.
Lifetime Achievement Award Carol Lindemulder
Lindemulder visited Parker the day after he held the first gathering of what was to become SOHO and demanded they forge a plan of action for saving the Sherman-Gilbert House from demolition. She has been active behind the scenes and in front of bulldozers as she helped preserve the San Diego Rowing Club, Belmont Park Roller Coaster and other significant sites. "Remember [when SOHO began], there was no Centre City Development Corporation, no CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) or Mills Act. Redevelopment was gung-ho," Lindemulder recalled. In addition to her four terms as SOHO president, she served on the City of San Diego's Historical Resources Board.
Preservationist of the Year Senator Christine Kehoe
Kehoe (D-San Diego) advocated for and introduced legislation to transfer 2.5 key acres from Caltrans to California State Parks. Legislation proved unnecessary due to her persistence and dedicated activism over two years. Late last year, the two state agencies agreed to add this land to Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. Now occupied by a recently replaced Caltrans office building, the site had been a coveted spot on the San Diego River for Native Americans, and then Spanish, Mexican and Anglo settlers. Once integrated into the park, this area at Juan and Taylor Streets will be Old Town's literal and symbolic threshold.
Historic Rescue Award Brothers United San Diego Firefighters, Inc. & Jennifer Hirsch
This group of current and former African-American San Diego firefighters has rallied around Fire Station #19 since it was an institutionalized bastion of racial segregation. Until 1951, it was the only station where black firefighters could work. Jennifer Hirsch of the city of San Diego's Planning Department prepared extensive nomination papers, which resulted in the recent addition of the station to the city's list of historic resources. Although designed by noted architects Charles and Edward Quayle, the building was declared historic for its role as a community center, where firefighters mentored neighborhood youth, as well as a local landmark in the history of segregation. No longer an active station, it is still home to Brothers United and plans for its restoration are in the works.
People in the Trenches Award Friends of Friendship Park
This large, diverse coalition of humanitarians, historic preservationists and environmentalists has faced "near insurmountable odds to preserve the meaning and purpose of Friendship Park's existence," according to the nomination. This park on the San Diego-Tijuana border has for generations been a place people, many of them relatives separated by immigration obstacles, could literally reach across the international boundary. It was abruptly closed in January by the Department of Homeland Security due to construction of the triple fence, which the coalition also opposes. The coalition, which continues to stage peaceful protests at Border Field State Park, maintains that the steel wall and a 48-foot-wide patrol road will irreparably damage or eliminate wildlife and water fowl habitats, archeological sites, early Spanish settlements and World War II coastal defense artifacts.
Community Champions Between Heights (BeHi) Neighborhood Group
BeHi, or Between Heights, is the name an advocacy group coined for itself based on its location between Normal Heights and University Heights. Residents formed it three years ago to oppose the demolition of three historic Spanish Revival-style homes for an expansion of Our Lady of Peace Academy. After years of negotiations with school officials BeHi has, for now, prevailed. The San Diego City Council recently upheld the historic designation of the houses, valued for the beauty and character they bring to the community. Neighborhood ties forged during this episode have spawned a newsletter and partnerships that show signs of lasting well beyond this preservation victory.
Cliffhanger Award Dr. Gary Fogel & the Torrey Pines Soaring Council
The Torrey Pines Gliderport in La Jolla, the last remaining launch for gliders overlooking the California coast, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places but that distinction may not be enough to protect its operations for hundreds of enthusiasts. Fogel has led efforts to expand the boundaries to include essential approaches and runways that are threatened by development. This will likely be an ongoing struggle due to the land's value and rare open space in an area dominated by the University of California and scientific research facilities, the jury noted.
Town Crier Award Ann Garwood & Nancy Moors
Garwood and Moors are virtually synonymous with the history and spirit of Hillcrest, their Uptown neighborhood. Their annual guidebook HillQuest, now in its sixth edition, is the printed companion to their web site www.HillQuest.com. The women, who are restoring a historic building in Banker's Hill, also founded the Hillcrest History Guild to promote community knowledge through the sharing of historic photographs and information.
Landmark Achievements in Restoration Stacey LoMedico & City of San Diego Parks & Recreation
LoMedico, director of the city of San Diego's Parks Department, is responsible for the restoration of the façades of two of Balboa Park's most beloved and significant buildings. The 1915 California Building and Tower, designed by Bertram G. Goodhue, and the 1926 San Diego Museum of Art, designed by William Templeton Johnson, occupy center stage of the Prado, the park's most historic corridor. Heritage Architecture and Planning of San Diego undertook the work after chunks of the façades threatened to fall and possibly cause injury. Heritage followed preservation protocol in opting to "repair rather than replace" damaged areas and cracked tile, where possible. New ornamentation was created from molds made from the original pieces.
Gift to the Street Award John L. Anderson, Lucy Contreras, & CCDC
Anderson of the Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC), the city of San Diego's downtown redevelopment arm, oversaw the rehabilitation and repainting of the city-owned Remmen apartment building despite the fact that the city had no tenant lined up. Historic paint analysis led CCDC to use the historic colors of the two-story Colonial Revival style building. Exchanging the peeling light blue and orange lead paint with pale yellow walls, cream-colored columns and trim, and black window sashes the 1907 structure appears much as it did when it was first built.
Adaptive Reuse Award Robert M. McLeod
Neighbors watched and worried as a Craftsman bungalow, constructed by master builder Martin V. Melhorn in 1919, deteriorated into an eyesore in Mission Hills. McLeod, recipient of the Adaptive Reuse Award, bought and restored the house and now uses it for his law office. Interior renovations were done so it can be returned to a private home, if desired, in the future.
Residential Restoration Award Bryan & Jora Vess
A glass-enclosed Mid-Century Modern house perched on Mount Helix in La Mesa was restored and renovated in consultation with the original architect, John Mock, who oversaw its construction in 1961. Water- and energy-saving devices were added and sustainable materials used without interfering with the historic fabric of the house.
The People in Preservation Awards Jury
A four-person jury selected the winners from nominations submitted by SOHO members and the public. Members of the jury included SOHO board member Daniel Soderberg, a photographer and video journalist; Jim Marich, director of quality, Genzyme Corporation; Scott Sandel, landscape architect with Nowell & Associates; and Ann Jarmusch, former architecture critic of The San Diego Union-Tribune. David Swarens, SOHO's director of interpretive programming served as moderator.
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