City Places Historical Home on Life Support

A historical home championed by preservationists but slated for demolition by its owners has been put in a holding pattern.

"The Coronado  voted 4 to 1 against issuing a demolition permit because there could be CEQA implications," Mayor Casey Tanaka said in an e-mail, after the council made its decision in a closed session Tuesday. Carrie Downey was the lone dissenting vote. The permit had been sought by Mark and Magarita Gosselin for their residence at 1010 Glorietta Blvd.

What began as a routine request to demolish an existing home, turned into a cause célèbre when it was learned the house was built by Homer Delawie, the legendary modernist architect, who died last year.

He is best known for the trolley building and clock across from the Santa Fe Depot downtown and the School of Creative and Performing Arts in South Bay, among many other commercial projects. Delawie won his first design award for a house he built in Mission Hills in 1958.

The closed session was called after Susan Brandt-Hawley, an attorney representing Save Our Heritage Organization (SOHO), and a number of Coronado residents calling themselves "Anticipated Petitioners," e-mailed Rachel Hurst, the city's director of communication on Aug. 25.

In that e-mail, Brandt-Hawley said issuing the demolition permit would be a violation of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). She argued further that "the house may be eligible for listing on the California Register of National Resources and, accordingly, no demolition permit may be issued until the city conducts its environmental review process under CEQA."

The council did not say whether it would conduct an environmental review or wait for the state to act. No one on the council or at City Hall would comment further on the decision.

Kelly Purvis, a community activist who attended Tuesday's public meeting, said she gathered from the council's statement that  "the CEQA issue was triggered by the state, and it would be resolved by the state."

Bruce D. Coons, executive director of SOHO, told the council there was a good chance the state would move to list the house on the National Register. He reminded the council members that Coronado only has one other National Historical Residence property—the .

Coons was among dozens of citizens who attended Tuesday's meeting to voice their opinions on the issue. Most were from Coronado, but some came from as far as Solana Beach.

Chris Ackerman, a local architect, called the house a "pristine example of a master architect's work." He said, "It is an excellent example of mid-century modern that is virtually unaltered."

Others begged to differ. "We don't consider it beautiful," Magarita Gosselin said. "We would have never bought it if we knew we couldn't tear it down."

The couple's attorney, Mark J. Dillon, pointed out that the Gosselins had paid the fees and complied with all the legal requirements, so the council had no authority to hold up the demolition. "All you have are opinions that it qualifies. We have opinions that it doesn't," he said. 

Scott Aurich, who sold the house to the Gosselins, said the couple never intended to keep it as is. "They bought the house with the intent to tear it down," he said, adding that the 1,700-square-foot house was too small for their growing family.

The couple bought the home for upward of $1.5 million, according to Mark Gosselin's testimony before the council. "We bought the property for the land, not the house," he said. Gosselin went on to point out that the house had been in "disrepair for years" and that 1010 Glorietta Blvd. was "not the best of example Delawie's work."

Dani Grady, a neighbor, said she had been in the house in recent years and that it was not in disrepair.

Another neighbor, Christine Keyes, urged the couple to find a way to remodel it. She said her family purchased their home 22 years ago and planned to remodel it extensively to accommodate her large family. "It had two bedrooms and at the time we had two kids and were planning for more," she said.

But as Keyes and her husband learned about the house and its history, they changed their minds. "It was Mary Carlin King-Ross who told us how much people loved the house," she said. Other neighbors came by with fond memories of the house. The late King-Ross is best known for organizing concerts in the park.

"We kept the facade and built out the back," she said. "In doing so, we preserved the character of the house and preserved the harmony of our neighborhood."

The news that the house had been granted a stay delighted the preservationist. "I'm very pleased," Ackerman said.

"We've lost two very important mid-century modern houses in recent years, including a stunning Lloyd Ruocco built for the granddaughter of John D. , because they were unprotected by our ordinance," Doug St. Denis, a member of Coronado's Historical Resource Commission, said in an e-mail following the council's decision.

Currently, only houses 75 years or older have to undergo historic review before a demolition permit is issued. Many at the council meeting argued the ordinance should be extended to houses 45 or 50 years old. The city of San Diego requires a review for houses 50 years and older. The Delawie house is 47 years old.

Brandt-Hawley said, "the City Council's direction against issuing a demolition permit was responsive to the overwhelming evidence that 1010 Glorietta is a qualified historic resource subject to the protections of CEQA."

Calls placed to the Gosselins, their Realtor and their attorney were not returned. (Aurich's wife, Wanda, did call back to say her husband was in Mexico for the Baja 500 and would not be back until after Thanksgiving.) 

Wayne Donaldson, a representative from the state's historical preservation office,  told St. Denis the house easily met the designation criteria. If this is true, the property would be governed by CEQA. Thirty-one letters have been sent to the State Office of Historic Preservation in support of the application, according to St. Denis. The hearing will be in Sacramento in January.