The La Jolla Historical Society has filed the June 16 appeal, arguing the loss of the 1894 cottage would harm the integrity of the historic district.
Following notice of a plan to demolish the historic Red Rest Cottage and re-roof its adjacent Red Roost Cottage at 1179 and 1187 Coast Blvd in La Jolla, the La Jolla Historical Society filed an appeal June 16.
The appeal contests the application for permits to “re-roof and secure the unoccupied Red Roost dwelling to prevent further deterioration and to demolish and remove the remains of the unoccupied Red Rest dwelling, which was previously destroyed by fire.”
No interior work is proposed as part of the project.
Red Rest and Red Roost were built as residences in 1894 and are the oldest buildings on their original sites in La Jolla. The cottages, part of a series of beach cottages across The Village, were designated historic in 1975 amid a failed effort by then-owner Jack Heimburge to demolish them.
Red Rest and Red Roost were then included in the 2024 national designation of the La Jolla Park Coastal Historic District, encompassing eight acres of coastal land from Coast Walk south to the end of Coast Boulevard.
The cottages were sold in 2014 and again in 2018; Red Rest sustained severe destruction during a 2020 fire, during which Red Roost was also damaged.
In 2022, a redevelopment application proposed construction of a new four-story, eight-unit condominium building on the site, with an underground parking garage and rehabilitation of the cottages for commercial use.
Plans were resubmitted in 2024.
“Although historic resources are present on the site, the project would not result in a substantial adverse change to the significance of a historical resource” and is exempt from California Environmental Quality Act determination of the project’s potential environmental impacts, the current notice states.
The statement that the historical resources would not be affected is “not supported by evidence,” La Jolla Historical Society historian Seonaid McArthur told lajolla.ca.
Despite the fire damage, the cottages contribute to the integrity of the historic district with their “location, the feeling they contribute, their association to each other and the lifestyle of the 1890s reflected in the structures,” McArthur said.
The cottages are “important reminders of La Jolla’s early development and coastal heritage,” she added. And removing one cottage “loses the integrity of the two cottages that make the resource powerful.”
McArthur hopes that the site’s owners would reconstruct both Red Rest and Red Roost, repurposing them or exploring alternatives and protecting the structures from further deterioration.
Also “egregious” in the current proposal: the lack of notification, McArthur said, as the Historical Society was not aware of the June 3 notice until about June 10, with the deadline to appeal set for June 17.
“The approval proceeded with little or no direct notice to the principal historic preservation organizations that have long been engaged in the protection of Red Rest,” she said.
“Our concern is not simply about saving two cottages,” McArthur emphasized. “It is about ensuring that all reasonable preservation, rehabilitation, relocation and adaptive reuse options are fully evaluated before an irreplaceable part of La Jolla’s history is removed.
Proper evaluation, she said, is critical, especially when setting precedent for how a community’s historic resources are treated going forward.
The project – and its appeal – will be heard by a San Diego hearing officer, though no date is yet scheduled.
