Lifetime Achievement Award

One of San Diego’s most experienced forces for historic preservation for more than three decades, this articulate expert has worked as an engaging educator, historian, planner, and impassioned preservationist. In 2014, SOHO recognized Diane Kane as a People In Preservation group award winner for her key role in saving the beloved 1935 La Jolla Post Office, and she is also a winning team member of this year's District Delivered award for the La Jolla Park Coastal Historic District.

She began her career conducting environmental reviews and surveys of historic properties for Caltrans in Los Angeles, then did similar work as a City of San Diego senior planner. Here, she handled historic building surveys crucial to the city’s long-range planning of the cultural, social, and economic value of significant old structures.

Currently a San Diego State University professor of 19th- and 20th-century architecture history and urban planning, she also shares her knowledge, analysis and insights via leadership and education roles for preservation organizations, including SOHO. She is a past trustee for the California Preservation Foundation, an active member of the La Jolla Historical Society’s preservation committee, and a frequent expert testifying before San Diego’s Historical Resources Board. She has contributed to the preparation of dozens of local, state, and national historic register reports, historic district nominations, cultural landscapes surveys, historic buildings and roads documentation, and environmental reviews.

SOHO wholeheartedly commends her generous commitment to preservation and her passion for sharing the story of architecture and its impact on people and culture.

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Historic Cabrillo Parkway

La Jolla Post Office, 1935

The Children’s Pool. All photos by Sandé Lollis

PAST PEOPLE IN PRESERVATION AWARD WINNERS