SAN DIEGO — The iconic “red bungalow” craftsman-style duplex that stood in Mission Hills for more than 110 years is now gone after a demolition crew tore it down Thursday.
“It’s really sad, literally within two hours, you had a hundred years of history gone,” said Michael Tuosto, who lives across the street.
Dozens of neighbors in Mission Hills looked on as “the little red house,” as it was called by locals, was torn down to the ground in a matter of hours at the corner of Fort Stockton Drive and Goldfinch Street.
“This 100-year-old building just gets crushed, it was really sad. We had about fifty people just watching in disbelief,” said Tuosto.
Originally built in 1912, the so-called “red bungalow” featured clinker bricks, low-pitched rooves, and two craftsman-style porches.
“It was an icon to the community, not just a beautiful building, but a lot of memories here and it really should’ve been preserved, it should’ve been saved,” said Barry Hager, an advisory director for the Mission Hills Heritage organization.
Hager and others in the community tried to save the building by having it designated as historic, but at a hearing last week, the Historic Resources Board voted against the idea.
“It’s a huge loss for the community and it’s been a real outpouring of emotion, and we’ve just seen a lot of grief in the community to lose this beautiful architectural gem,” said Hager. Protestors made their voices heard this week in a last-ditch effort to save it, but it was not enough to save the building from demolition.
The property was acquired in 2021 by a developer based in Los Angeles. CBS 8 could not confirm what will be built on the site, but some neighbors say a multi-story housing complex is planned.
“It’s going to be an ugly seven or eight-story building that sort of ruins the character of the neighborhood and you just added one-hundred, two-hundred cars to an already busy neighborhood,” said Tuosto.
CBS 8 talked to others in the neighborhood, however, who say they’re glad to see the chance for new housing to be built and believe such development should be encouraged due to the vast need for more housing in San Diego.
“The process is over, it was a very diligent process, multiple reviews. I don’t think anyone with the City of San Diego or the Historic Resources Board designated it as historic, and there’s a lot of subjectivity to that,” said Mission Hills resident, Wesley Morgan. “At this point, it is time for the community to move on and welcome our new neighbors.”
Pointing to multiple condominium buildings in the surrounding area, Morgan says this location in Mission Hills is an ideal area to add more density and housing.
“This is in a commercially zoned area, there are condo complexes across the street and behind it. We’ve seen a shift from those who drive to restaurants to those who walk from within the community and those who walk to the school here, those who walk to grocery stores,” said Morgan. “In the evenings, Fort Stockton here is a thoroughfare for cyclists and in the morning as well, so it’s just a great community to be able to live and use this as your access point to the rest of San Diego.”
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