SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A pair of North San Diego County residences may become the latest local site to receive a national historic place designation.
The Boathouses in Encinitas will be considered at an Aug. 1 meeting by the California State Historical Resources Commission to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
On 3rd Street, the pair of boathouses, known as the S.S. Moonlight and the S.S. Encinitas, sit blocks from the water but remain very much connected to 1920s life on the water.
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The homes were constructed by architect Mile Mino Kellogg using timber salvaged from a local bathhouse and a defunct hotel called the Moonlight Beach Dance Parlor.
They were always intended to be homes and not actual vessels, but also meant to replicate the appearance and scale of boats at the time.
Today, the homes represent what the California agency calls "an architecturally significant example of Fantasy-themed programmatic residential architecture." In short: Residential architecture meant to resemble something other than a traditional building.
The boathouses were purchased by the Encinitas Preservation Association in 2008 and are currently rented out as private homes. Once the loan is paid off though, the plan is to convert the pair of quirky dwellings into a small museum.
But explorers can visit the homes anytime on 3rd St. or do so with a helping of history from the Encinitas Historical Society during guided walking tours every third Saturday between Sept. and July.
