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John D. Henderson, FAIA
Lifetime Achievement Award
 If you were to name your three favorite historic buildings in San Diego, it's likely John D. Henderson restored or rehabilitated them, or wrote the in-depth report that placed them on the national, state or local historic register. If you thought of the Santa Fe Depot, Mission San Diego de Alcalá, and the Marston House, you'd be right! If you conjured up Balboa Park's Prado culminating in the Bea Evenson Fountain, Spreckels Theatre Building, and La Jolla Woman's Club, you'd be right again!
This accomplished architect became enamored with historic preservation when he was working with architect, and SOHO member, the late Homer Delawie, and got his hands dirty working on an old adobe. John soon dove in to help SOHO save the Sherman-Gilbert House in 1969. He also lent his expertise to SOHO's growth into a respected preservation force by volunteering his professional skills, congenial personality, and boundless energy over the years. Also, an art lover, he played a role in SOHO's benefit art auctions during the 1970s and led some of the group's first architecture tours. After he helped write the groundbreaking California Historical Building Code, he presented it to San Diegans at a SOHO workshop.
This generous gentleman has probably served on every historic preservation board you can think of at the city, county, and state levels. He also chaired the National Park Service's Historic American Buildings Survey Advisory Board.
This preservation hero is also an excellent writer and historian. As a member of the American Institute of Architects, John spent years with colleagues researching, writing, and editing two seminal San Diego architecture guides, published in 1970 and 1977. He wrote an insightful and poetic history of the city and its architecture for the 1970 guide, when San Diego was California's second largest city. He concluded his essay with this observation:
"… a pleasant and comfortable city has emerged; a city that, to its permanent residents, is a source of pride and hope for the future, and, for its visitors a place of delight and pleasure."
Later, John was honored by the national AIA when he was elected to its prestigious College of Fellows.
This man's architecture and public service awards are literally too numerous to mention, except for one: In 1981, SOHO saluted him with the President's Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Preservation of San Diego History. We think it's high time we honored him again for the dozens of important preservation projects he's accomplished since then. With great admiration and appreciation, delight and pleasure, SOHO presents a Lifetime Achievement award to John D. Henderson, FAIA.
Photos by Sandé Lollis, except bottom left courtesy Architectural Resources Group
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