The La Mesa History Center (formerly Historical Society) Home Tour enters its 17th year, having earned a reputation as one of the most popular and welcoming home tours in the county.
The in-person home tour on Saturday, Nov. 11 (9 a.m. to 3 p.m.), returns to the hills surrounding downtown La Mesa, the Jewel of the Hills. The tour will feature an eclectic mixture of Folk Victorian, Craftsman, Prairie Style, Spanish Eclectic, and Italianate Revival designs emblematic of these historic neighborhoods. The Society’s last tour here in 2018 was reportedly an overwhelming success.
This year promises to be another popular event highlighting these historic neighborhoods, their distinctive properties along with the significant designers, builders, and historically significant residents and families of these landmark homes. It will also allow tour leaders to honor the present “Preservation Hero” owners who continue to preserve and steward these landmark properties.
This year’s History Center’s tour also features another significant and long-standing local institution that has recently celebrated its own centennial, St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church.
St. Martin’s will be the tour shuttle stop and parking location for tour guests. In addition, St. Martin’s will have its original, and renovated, original 1921 church building (moved to the site in 1948) open for tour guests to visit.
Join tour organizers on this Veteran’s Day 2023 to honor some of La Mesa’s “Preservation Heroes” who are the stewards of some of these most unique and historic properties.
From its 19th century origins as a citrus farming community, to early suburban hilltop view homes featuring classic Craftsman and Prairie styles of the 1910s, to stunning and distinctive Inter-War Revival-style homes of the 1920s and 1930s, this year’s tour provides an unprecedented opportunity for tour guests to experience La Mesa’s early architectural evolution.
The preservation of each of the featured tour properties also highlights the history of some of the most prominent and fascinating families, individuals, and long-standing institutions in La Mesa history.
These include the 1893 Porter House, home for over a century to the influential civic and community leading Porter Family, including the “preserved-in-time” art studio of noted sculptor James Tank Porter; the 1912 Todd House, a cutting-edge Prairie Style home associated with the family who helped found the annual Easter Sunrise services tradition at Mt. Nebo’s Prospect Park; the c1910/29 Packard Home, the house of noted publisher Phineas Packard and one-time home to his daughter, renown local Modern artist/artisan Ellamae Packard Woolley.
The property is now eclectically theme-furnished with notable antiques, artifacts and art of Woolley, Olaf Wieghorst, Robert Vavra, Robert Miles Parker, and Broadway designer Gregg Barnes; the c1910 Lyster/Garfield House, the beautiful Craftsman home of Wade and Mary Garfield—Mary the artist and poet whose prose lead to La Mesa’s “Jewel of the Hills” nickname; a distinctive and art-integrated home and grounds of the 1938 James and Corrine Dall Spanish Eclectic House; and the aforementioned Mission Style-influenced 1921 St. Martin’s Church.
These special homes, also provide an opportunity to thank the current owners of these landmark properties who heroically steward their preservation today. All tastefully and compatibly period furnished, artistically decorated, and wonderfully landscaped, they continue to provide the current homeowners, several with young children, the same functions, and assets that the original owners experienced for these many generations.
The La Mesa History Center is also proud to associate with St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church, Modern San Diego, and their platinum sponsors Andrea Flint- Gogek – Realtor/Tranquility Real Estate Services, La Mesa Lumber, La Mesa Village Association, Pete’s Place, Jim O’Donnell Realtor, and Tracey Stotz Broker to showcase another set of amazing homes and properties of La Mesa.
The day of check-in and shuttle center will be at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church, 7710 El Cajon Blvd. In La Mesa.
Tickets are available only through the La Mesa History Center. Order tickets or memberships online at: lamesahistory.com or mail check for ticket payment by Nov. 9 to: La Mesa History Center, P.O. Box 882, La Mesa, Ca. 91944.
All “Tickets” are picked up on Tour Day. No tickets will be mailed.
Continuously running shuttles are included with admission and will provide access to the homes. Due to narrow streets and minimal parking at the homes, no personal vehicles can be allowed on the Tour. The Home Tour is NOT ADA accessible, and guests will be required to walk up and down lengthy and steep driveways and staircases to access several homes.
Visit lamesahistory.com for more information.
