The La Jolla Historical Society honored a handful of notable properties and individuals this year, also offering a private viewing of Casa de las Tortugas.

Offering a rare peek inside a major home renovation in La Jolla Shores alongside honoring several restored La Jolla properties, the La Jolla Historical Society hosted its annual Jewel Awards Oct 12.

The Jewel Awards, organized by the society’s Landmark Steering Committee, commemorate individuals and projects who have made outstanding contributions to La Jolla’s architectural heritage. The event is also the culmination of the Historical Society’s Modernism and Architecture Week, which began with the Modernism Tour.

The Jewel Award for Restoration, which recognizes owners whose updates to a property include preserving and returning it to its original architectural form and character, went to homeowners Insun Lee and Troy Wu for their restoration of the midcentury modern Joseph and Elizabeth Yamada House on El Camino del Teatro, designed by Leon Tuck and David Nikuchi and designated historic in 2022.

Joseph Yamada was a renowned landscape architect who “helped shape many of San Diego’s most beloved spaces,” Landmark Group Chair Seonaid McArthur said.

Lee and Wu restored the home’s original woodwork and details, McArthur said, renewing its  Japanese-inspired landscape and honoring Yamada’s principles of balance, asymmetry, and seasonality. 

An honorable mention for restoration went to the Nina Bowden House on La Jota Way, owned by Daniel and Carrie Aisen, with Joseph Troia, associate project manager for IS Architecture.

The restoration of the 1952 custom ranch home by Robert Mosher and Roy Drew modernized the home for the Aisens’ young family while preserving its original character, McArthur said.

The Jewel Award for Rehabilitation – recognizing owners who repair, alter and make additions to a property, adapting it to contemporary use while preserving the historic, cultural or architectural character – went to Tom Grunow Construction, in collaboration with owner Elizabeth Cullington, for their “thoughtful renewal” of a 1930s Spanish Revival bungalow on Prospect Place, said La Jolla Historical Society Executive Director Lauren Lockhart.

Grunow, a longtime supporter of the Historical Society, worked with Cullington and her family to “sensitively [update] their Spanish bungalow for modern living while respecting its charm and integrity,” McArthur said.

This year, the Historical Society recognized its first “Preservation Champion,” honoring “individuals whose long-term commitment has made a lasting difference in protecting La Jolla’s heritage,” Lockhart said.

The inaugural Preservation Champion is Jim Neri, “who has devoted more than 30 years of expertise and advocacy to preserving La Jolla’s coastline,” McArthur said.

Neri is “the person you call when you’re in a panic,” McArthur added, “when you need all the heritage plantings in Scripps Park identified for a National Register application or the landscape plan for The Children’s Pool entry.”

Neri’s “thoughtful designs can be seen all along our coastline,” she said.

The Jewel Award for site preservation went to the Mt Soledad Memorial Association for its National Veterans Memorial restoration.

First established in 1954, the memorial and cross is “a living memorial, cared for by volunteers and loved by the community; a place where gratitude endures high above the sea,” McArthur said.

The event concluded with a self-guided tour offered to attendees of Casa de las Tortugas, a Spindrift Drive home owned by Steve Black and Kristen Richards-Black that recently underwent a yearslong renovation by Island Architects owners Tony Crisafi & Lisa Kriedeman.