La Jolla Historical Society

The La Jolla Historical Society is a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the La Jolla community within San Diego, California. According to its mission statement, it "celebrates the history and culture of this region along the water's edge through interdisciplinary programs, exhibitions, and research that challenge expectations. It balances contemporary and historic perspectives to create understanding and connection."

Programs and collections

A unique historic house museum, The La Jolla Historical Society (LJHS) "develops projects that cross disciplinary boundaries and explore the relationship of culture to society, collaborating with guest curators, artists, architects, and other cultural producers." Programs include exhibitions, presentations, symposia, discussions, interviews, architecture tours, youth education, and annual community events such as the Secret Garden Tour of La Jolla and the La Jolla Concours d'Elegance. LJHS consults with the City of San Diego regarding landmark designations of properties located in La Jolla.

The Online Archive of California lists some, but not all, of the collections held by the La Jolla Historical Society.

Organizational history

The La Jolla Historical Society (LJHS) was founded in 1964 by a small group of community leaders and local citizens dedicated to preserving the community’s rich heritage and culture.

The work of LJHS dates back to 1936 with the arrival in La Jolla of Howard S.F. Randolph, a historian and genealogist from New England. Interested in La Jolla's early development, Randolph worked with the Library Association of La Jolla to gather photographs and other documentation. The publication of his book La Jolla: Year by Year (1946), spurred interest in local history. With the community’s support, Randolph’s collection grew, becoming the nucleus of the significant archival collection of images and documents that LJHS maintains today.

La Jollans’ historical efforts remained connected to the Library Association for years. In 1955, the Association financed a second edition of Randolph’s book.

The 1960s were a decade of dramatic change in La Jolla as a "land boom" led to rapidly increasing real estate prices. Small beach cottages began to be demolished and replaced by high rises and modern commercial buildings. The arrival of the University of California, San Diego and Salk Institute for Biological Studies changed the cultural and intellectual composition of the community.

In that context, community members realized a separate organization was necessary to address a growing interest in history and preservation. Articles of incorporation were filed on July 7, 1964, with the Society's first officers being Barbara Dawson (President), Hiomi Nakamura (Vice President), and A.B. Crosby (Secretary). At that time, the board of trustees of the Library Association transferred the substantial Randolph Collection to LJHS.

LJHS first occupied a room in the La Jolla Federal Savings & Loan building at 1100 Wall Street. It then met in private homes until 1968 when a small office was established at 7917 Girard Avenue. In 1971, operations were moved to the La Jolla Public Library at 1010 Wall St. (the location of the present-day Athenaeum Music & Arts Library). Six years later, the Society moved to the Colonial Inn. Finally, in 1981, LJHS moved to its current location in a 1909 cottage at 7846 Eads Avenue, located in the La Jolla Cultural District.

The La Jolla Historical Society has grown into a multi-faceted community organization with a growing slate of programs and an ambitious future.

Historic Structures

1904 Wisteria Cottage

Wisteria Cottage (left) and Balmer Cottage (right), La Jolla Historical Society

Wisteria Cottage, 780 Prospect Street, is located in the heart of the La Jolla Cultural District and offers an important example of the distinctive vernacular architecture of early San Diego. The rehabilitated Wisteria Cottage serves as an interpretative space and a museum-standard exhibition gallery space. The renovated conference room in the Balmer Annex provides improved facilities for meetings, workshops, educational programs, and community activities.

Wisteria Cottage was built in 1904 and acquired by Virginia Scripps, half-sister of philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps, soon after its completion. Between 1907 and 1909, architect Irving Gill made a number of additions and modifications, including the construction of a wisteria-covered pergola that flanks the entry.

Wisteria Cottage was used as a guest house for Scripps family members and visiting friends. It briefly served as a temporary home for La Jolla's Episcopal Church before the construction of St. James Chapel in 1907-08. From the 1940s through the 1960s, it housed the Balmer School, an elementary school that developed into the La Jolla Country Day School. . From the mid-1960s to 2005, it served as a bookshop, first the Nexxus Bookstore, then John Cole's Book Shop. The Cottage was added to the List of San Diego Historic Landmarks in 1982.

With the closing of Cole's Bookstore in 2005, Wisteria Cottage began a new era as the home of the La Jolla Historical Society. In 2008, Ellen Revelle and her family made a bequest of the entire property to LJHS.

Wisteria Cottage was restored and rehabilitated for use as a museum, education and research center, and community gathering place. Construction was completed in 2014 to coincide with LJHS's 50th Anniversary celebration.

In 2014, the Historical Resources Board (HRB) of the City of San Diego presented LJHS with an award for the Architectural Rehabilitation of Wisteria Cottage. LJHS was also selected for Save Our Heritage Organisation's People in Preservation Awards program as 2014 Preservationists of the Year.

1909 Cottage

1909 Cottage, La Jolla Historical Society

The 1909 Cottage has been adaptively reused as offices and public research space. The rooms have their original wainscot and windows replete with “wavy” window glass–the effects of time on a century-old structure.

In the early 1900s, La Jolla was a railroad suburb and tourist destination with about a hundred cottages. Most cottages had one or two bedrooms with no plumbing or electricity. Often built of old-growth redwood, they had wood shingle siding and were finished inside with wainscot and pine plank floors.

One such cottage, built in 1909 and located at 245 Prospect Street, was due to be demolished to make room for a three-story condominium. LJHS, then located in a small office at the Colonial Inn hotel on Prospect St., acquired the cottage as its new home. In 1981, the cottage was moved a few blocks north on Prospect St. and around the corner to its current location at 7846 Eads Avenue by La Jolla developer Dewhurst & Associates. The expense of moving the cottage was provided by the Revelle Family.

1917 Carriage House

The Carriage House has been retrofitted for state-of-the-art storage of the Society’s archival collection, which includes historic photographs, public records, private documents, and newspaper archives.

Located on the former estate of philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps, the Carriage House was built in 1917 as a garage for the Ford automobile belonging to Scripps' chauffeur. Scripps owned an extensive tract of property along the La Jolla coastline that, in 1916, included her home South Molton Villa, designed by Irving Gill, and several smaller buildings: a library, a guest bungalow, Wisteria Cottage, a lathe house, and a garage for her Pierce-Arrow automobile.

1996 Venturi Pergola

Venturi Pergola, La Jolla Historical Society

In 2018, LJHS acquired and installed The Venturi Pergola, one of the pergolas designed for the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) complex by the firm of Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates (VSBA). The Tuscan-inspired fiberglass columns and aluminum pergola were a postmodern response to the work of early twentieth-century architect Irving J. Gill. The complete pergola was accessioned into LJHS’s permanent collection.

External links

• Official website Archived 2013-06-01 at the Wayback Machine
• La Jolla Concours D' Elegance