Carolyn Kutzke is mad about the City of San Diego historically designating the house she owns at 1036 Madison Avenue (at New York) against her wishes, and she wants you to be mad, too. In fact, she has a big sign and petition out in front of her house asking neighbors to support her appeal to the city.
However, there is a lot that sign doesn’t tell you. For example, that Ms. Kutzke originally bought the Madison Avenue house just so that she could either move it or demolish it, to make way for another house she wants to relocate from Hillcrest.
Also, the sign states that “they want us to return the house to its original condition” and shows a photo of the house prior to Carolyn’s renovations. That photo does not show the original condition of the house, which was built in 1923. In fact, the photo was taken recently, after the house sat empty and run-down for years, and was cited for a variety of code violations.
Most troubling, the sign does not tell you that Ms. Kutzke violated City of San Diego building code by significantly altering and/or destroying various historic aspects of the home’s architecture including the roof, front porch pillars, and front windows without a permit after submitting a request for preliminary review by the Planning Department to determine whether the house was potentially historic.
On March 23, 2011, the City’s Historic Resources Board (HRB) historically designated the house, determining that “The property is historically significant under CRITERION C for its distinctive characteristics of the Craftsman style in the Airplane Bungalow subtype and retains a good level of architectural integrity from its 1923 period of significance. Specifically, the resource maintains its character defining features of wood lap siding, wood 1/1 double hung windows, pop-up second story and symmetrical design.” City’s staff report also notes that penalties will be levied for all the alterations made to the property by Ms. Kutzke, after she submitted a request for preliminary review. Carolyn actually replaced the wood windows identified in the HRB Report with vinyl windows the same day the Historic Resources Board determined that the property was historically significant.
According to a recent Quality of Life Survey conducted among UH residents, over 90% of respondents rated the quality of life in UH as good or excellent. Two of the top 5 reasons people like living in UH are historic homes and properties (62%) and sense of community (49%). So, before signing any petition, ask yourself if the house on Madison would look just as good or better with the wood windows and front porch pillars Carolyn Kutzke destroyed. Also ask yourself if this kind of behavior contributes to our outstanding quality of life in University Heights. And, if you wish to let the City Council know that you do not support Ms. Kutzke’s appeal, please sign UHCDC online petition here.
