San Diego Historic Places

the black-and-white pictures you'll see in the next episode of San Diego's Historic Places are the property of the San Diego Historical Society allowing sandy Aegon's a glimpse into the city's past and what life was like a hundred years ago come along and see one of San Diego's oldest neighborhoods Burlingame is known for its historic homes in rose-colored sidewalks nestled in North Park between 30th and 32nd streets the neighborhood would be known as the track of character the development began in 1912 when nearly 200 homes were built by 1929 it was considered to be the biggest building spike since the 1880s pictures from the San Diego Historical Society to pick a different life in Burlingame during the early 1900s they show a simple life when the first homes were built it would be the months of December in January when nearly 40 men using mules began to grade the area to make room for the new construction born around the 1915 World Exposition in Balboa Park Burlingame is an eclectic palette of architecture which styles like Mission Revival Swiss chalets or craftsman Burlingame is a neighborhood known for its character the Benbow house was one of the first homes built in 1912 it got its nickname from its first owner Percy Benbow a successful merchant and watched the mayor of San Diego for will Neville's and Judy the home was love at first sight this is nothing like what I expected but I thought I have to have this house so we had a realtor come in and show us the house and she teased me she said you can't afford it it needs too much work the interior hadn't been done but we ran some numbers and I realized she was right and it wasn't the house for me will was with me that day and I said well you know it just wasn't meant to be I'm not going to buy the house it would be really a sacrifice to sell my house and try to get into this I'm not emotionally involved and he said well I am in a real quiet voice from the start the couple knew restoring a home would be a major project but that wouldn't keep them from their dream house each time I would get to another layer of wallpaper and it sounds silly it you think a little bit about the history somebody chose that someone put it on the wall so it would be wallpaper paint and then wallpaper and then maybe something different so you think about the personality and then in talking to the neighbors we found out some of the rooms and how they were used there was a layer of blue paint in a room oh that's right there were four boys wasn't it who lived in that room so I really enjoyed it but the years wouldn't always be so kind to the Benbow house at some point in time the house fell into disrepair because it became a rental property and the previous owner had told us when he bought it it was literally boarded up and so it's it's it has been a trim this restoration project and and I think that I can really appreciate the fact that this house could be saved because from what I understand it was pretty bad Will and Judy have saved the house and have also found some items from the past like this check written on December second 1935 for $11 and 78 cents to San Diego Gas & Electric and the original stair railings will found in the backyard and I happen to see these that this sticking out and I said well I wonder what that is and so brought it in and it was in pieces and it brought it in the structure the rails were pretty much intact and I saw it brought in and it matched up perfectly with the rails with the steps and so I asked Wayne the carpenter I said what what do you think this might be and he says well I don't know he says I'll go find out it's a special kind of wood so it turns out to be Filipino mahogany so we brought it back in and and actually reduced the footprint a little bit and this one handily mounted it like most of the house the staircase has been restored the second storey including the master suite also received a major overhaul the couple tells me they added a second bathroom and as they began restoring the home will and Judy would make more discoveries from the past but this tub was one of the original touch it was in the house and basically just collecting a lot of junk and so we cleaned it up and we took the cloth feed off and painted those and ordered the fixtures here to go at the tub and install it here when we once we got the tile on the floor there's no question this home is unique it is one of few in Burlingame that features a third story called a mirador because of the view as original stairs this was all painted white and we didn't finish this yet but we stripped all of most of the white off and so we are still working on way up and this whole thing was all white there all the banisters will hide at one point there was a large family living in the Benbow house and it seemed every room was used this room is called a mirror door room and it's considered another bedroom I think five or six boys were living up here when the larger family was on the street and the house next door had a similar type room but they removed it over time over the year over the years back downstairs in the dining room the fireplace is nearly intact and it faces both a dining and living room for the note this fireplace unlike the one on the other side is his original if we look at the tile it goes back a ways and everyone that's come in to visit that have actually lived in the house it has some history of the house indicate that this is the way it was since the house was was built after two years will and Judy have beautifully restored their home and they have decorated it with pieces of furniture lighting fixtures and paint colors from the homes era the couple silverware in China have been handed down through generations and it adds to the homes decor like some of the homes previous owners will in duty are collecting pictures newspaper articles and other items they have found in the home to preserve its history for future generations the neighborhood recently celebrated the Burlingame historic tour by showcasing three homes to the public and antique cars that belonged to Valerie Lakes father I just thought well what fun to put a few old cars in front of the houses on the tour and give more of a flavor of that 1912 to 1913 when this neighborhood it's mostly a pre-world War two neighborhood came to be and what it might have looked like in the 50s the pictures in the car collection give us a glimpse to the past we're passionate about our neighborhood we're passionate about maintaining a neighborhood so that our children and our grandchildren many of these houses have three generations coming back we don't want to lose that we want to be able to let people see what can be in a neighborhood in an environment like this Valerie wants to preserve the neighborhood's history this was a vision of McFadden and Buxton who put together a group a syndicate if you will of like businessmen architects builders Realtors to design a suburban neighborhood and we were kind of the end of the trolley line and it there they made a decision to instead of make a grid pattern they followed the linear curves of the terrain so that's why we have rather curved streets and blocks they also came up with the idea of putting in the red sidewalks so that's original to Burlingame this bridge over Switzer Canyon was built around 1910 because the area around Balboa Park was quickly expanding and there was heavy demand it also gave birth to a neighborhood now known as Burlingame I was surprised to hear many of the Burlingame homes have maintained their architectural design since they were built the homes were kind of a mixture of eclectic designs by people who wanted to try new things get away from previous architecture borrow from things they liked so we have Prairie homes just that were inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright we have Mission Revival we have of course craftsman California bungalows with all that beautiful wood and and built-ins we have homes that are almost neoclassical and Art Deco in their design so has the nearby business district built around the same time there are a number of businesses including a pottery shop an arts and crafts store and more I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood to meet some of the shop owners I stopped by scoop the ice cream parlour and got to know Kristin E owner I asked her to tell me about her popular cupcakes this is a red velvet so I've it's got a little bit of cocoa and it's a very southern cake so it's interesting it has vinegar and then I use a a butter cream cheese frosting on the top and I use all natural ingredients except for of course the Red Dog it's those ingredients in the friendly service that keep customers coming back for more Jodi and Tom Mello recently moved into the neighborhood they wanted a special place for their daughter Olivia it was the sense of community and beautifully designed homes that attracted the mellows to Burlingame when was the last time you've been to a neighborhood that had a block party going on for almost a hundred years it's really and and that the participation is there's Tom and Jody tell me they love the craftsmanship of the homes and they wanted to restore and preserve everything in their home the front door may look like an original it perfectly matches the home's decor Tom and Jody went to great lengths to fight the right carpenter who would create a piece that looked like it had been there from the start he put all the original hardware back on which would have been here when the house was originally done and now this door is new but we think really kind of exemplifies what probably would have been there to begin with in 1924 through the homes restoration process tom tells me they needed new lighting fixtures for the dining and living rooms he describes how Jody went to great lengths until she find the right piece that would perfectly match the rest of the home there they had on this light over here they had a ceiling fan from 1975 didn't fit and over here they had a modern fixture I will put it that way from the 80s which also didn't fit so my wife and her friend diligently went out and they combed the Greater San Diego area for for things that were period that would fit into our house and they were able to find this light here and that light over there the kitchen also underwent a major transformation Jody wanted to keep the home's architectural design with the comfort of modern conveniences you have but you also wanted to keep and preserve a lot of the history from the rest of it well we really wanted to make it flow with the rest of the house so we brought in the wood floors and this this whole area and into the hallway and the steps to follow through from there and then the colors we wanted to follow through as well with the granite the shaker door style is what was typical of that time and so we recreated that in the cabinets since living in her home on San Marcos Avenue with Jody and Tom tell me they've discovered things from the past it was interesting when I had the the chimney repair people come out and look at it they told me that the fire had never been lit ever so the house was built in 1924 we bought the house in 2006 and the first fire was ever had in this fireplace in late 2006 it was probably still warm but we had the fire whether it's warm or cold weather Jodi and Tom say they will continue to enjoy the fireplace and the couple say they're always keeping their eyes open and hoping to make more discoveries they also plan on staying in their home for many years this two-story home looks like it did when it was built almost a hundred years ago Vance Walker was looking to invest in some property but when he moved in it all changed and he decided to stay I nicknamed it Pleasantville because it was so wonderful heroes great great neighbors and everybody knows everybody and calls it my name and I really is very genuine here it's a wonderful neighborhood and I just fell in love it was the neighbors in the homes charm that convinced events to stay in Burlingame as soon as he moved in he knew he had his work cut out for him he decided to use historical colors throughout the house the decor in this house was pretty much from the 60s and it was it needed some serious updating the kitchen hadn't been touched probably since the 60s as well and so it really had the older gentleman let's here before was was a World War 2 vet from from from Pearl Harbor and he just had his pet Weiss passed away earlier and he just hadn't done anything with the house for many many years the formal dining room is original to the home the wood paneling and beautifully designed built-ins all were in good shape Vance tells me the restoration process was a major project something he thought he could do on his own basically almost everything the entire house has been redone when I first started I started doing it myself then I just felt myself weight on my head right away and within a year I got a contractor and I had him here kennel bomb here for over a year solid just on this house outside inside everything like many of his neighbors fans has taken the extra effort to learn about the homes history house was built in 1912 I believe in August 1912 and it as I understand it was built for the expo in 1916 was built for some dignitaries and this particular house was designed by William wheeler from who does a lot of the architecture here in downtown San Diego and he designed this house as well as a couple other houses in the neighborhood and this house I understand was originally for one of the dignitaries of Norway once fans moved in he immediately tackled the kitchen completely renovating it with all the modern conveniences and perfectly matching the rest of the house as it had been there for years horrid it was yeah by today's standards it was horrible it had a drop ceiling in it and fluorescent lights and had had an island here that was just nothing really worked really well by today's standards and so we took this room and took it all the way down to two by fours everything is new all new wiring next to the kitchen there was a maid's quarters with its own side door to the outside it is now a laundry room this used to be a maid's quarters from here back all this was this bathroom didn't exist here this was a maid's quarters and with a separate entrance for the for the maid and that was from when it was originally makers I have found an article on that the house has all new electrical wiring plumbing and the plaster on the walls has been redone throughout the house upstairs even the smaller details weren't overlooked try to keep some keep the house as original as possible all the doorknobs in the house for a completely torn apart and rebrand re polish because there's solid brass we polished them and and then coated them with a clear coat so they don't tarnish and which was much more exhaustive than just replacing him with something you know you could just get anything new at a hardware store himself Vance did everything possible to bring the house to its original state all day all the wood up here all this was originally painted this is all painted and so we stripped this all down to its original condition and then just stained and varnished it is clearly visible Vance was attracted to the Holmes character and charm there's something special about living in a historic home there's something unique about the home I noticed the upstairs floors were done in Maple and back downstairs the floors are an oak this was maple like I said from the because it was a popular wood from Norway I understand and that was before the Norwegian consulate that was here for the World Expo in 1916 van says there's more work to be done on the house a new living room floor and reworking the basement throughout the last 95 years the homes had less than a handful owners and while the home's restoration process is not over Vance isn't in a hurry he's not going anywhere in fact he's already made long-term plans of staying in Burlingame it would take almost two decades for the development of Burlingame to be completed the well-known real estate development of Joseph McFadden and George Buxton would lead the project it's hard to imagine but the home sold for $3,500 the more expensive ones for $9,500 now the homes easily fetch more than a million dollars thank you for joining us for this episode of San Diego's Historic Places Burlingame on KPBS by the way we're always looking for historic places in San Diego we welcome your ideas along with pictures send them to SD history at kpbs.org I'm Elsa Sevilla for KPBS

Channel: KPBS

Views: 20,731

Rating: 4.7473683 out of 5

Keywords: san, diego, history, kpbs

Id: v-nLplTgrBY

Length: 26min 48sec (1608 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 20 2008