Preservation: History Up in Smoke
Categories: Preservation: You Can Help
By: Mark Boardman 01/01/2008
Folks in southern California are still assessing all the damage caused by wildfires last fall. Fires destroyed about 2,200 homes—along with at least a dozen historic structures.
The Save Our Heritage Organization (SOHO) of San Diego has compiled a list of buildings lost to the fire. At the top: the Sikes adobe farmhouse in Escondido, which dated back to 1869 with wood additions in 1881; it was fully restored in 2004. The main task for the organization that oversees the Sikes, San Dieguito River Park Joint Powers Authority, is to rebuild. It’s unclear how much that will cost or when the work might be completed.
The same questions remain for the other historic buildings that went up in smoke. They include:
• An 1880s schoolhouse in Ballena
• An 1870s house in Ballena
• 1920s Craftsman homes in Del Dios
• Bratton House (late 1800s) in Jamul
• Several buildings at the Honey Springs Ranch, built in the 1930s, also in Jamul
• Thing Brothers Store (1890s) in Tecate
• William Flack House (1895) in Ramona
Buildings destroyed in the San Pasqual Valley include:
• Clevenger House (1872)
• Fenton Ranch House (1930)
• Judson Houses (1880s and 1896-97)
• Peet-Haley House (1908)
• Rockwood Ranch barn (1882)
• San Pasqual Store (1930s)
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That is sad news about the school in Denison. The Superintendent of schools here in St. Joseph is proposing a "visionary" new plan which includes closing and razing three 100-year-old school buildings which are still very much in use. New is better, don'tcha know? There is a group forming now to mobilize to save these viable neighborhood schools, but time is of the essence. I am really dismayed to read that, even with funding in hand, this venerable old Texas building was lost.