University Heights Historic Treasure: The Normal School Site
As one of San Diego’s oldest neighborhoods, University Heights has many historical landmarks. One of the most significant is the site of the Normal School, which was built in 1898 and was the forerunner to San Diego State University. Eleven years earlier in 1887, the College Hill Land Association promised prospective buyers in University Heights that the San Diego College of Arts, a branch of the University of Southern California, would be located on the same site. However, construction of the San Diego College of Arts never advanced beyond the planning stage, as the real estate boom suddenly burst in 1889.
The Grand State Normal School Built in 1899
In 1898, the site of the aborted San Diego College of the Arts was donated to the State of California to build a “Normal School,” a state-sponsored teacher-training college. A Neoclassic Revival college building, designed by local architects William S. Hebbard and Irving Gill, was completed and opened in 1899. In 1910, a Teachers Training Annex was built adjacent to the Normal School to train teachers in classroom procedures under real-life conditions.
In 1921, the San Diego Normal School became the San Diego State Teachers College and could grant certificates and degrees. Also in 1921, the legislature moved San Diego Junior College to the Normal School campus. The junior college remained with the school until 1947, when it became independent. By 1928, the Normal School student body had outgrown the facilities at the Normal School and moved to its present day location on Montezuma Mesa, where it eventually became San Diego State University.
The Normal School was also situated on the historic route of the San Diego Electric Railway, owned by John Spreckels, which entered University Heights at Fourth Street and University Avenue, traveled eastward on University until jogging northeast along Normal Street past the Normal School, and then north along Park Boulevard.
Normal School Site Continuously Used for Educational Purposes
After the Normal School moved to Montezuma Mesa, the buildings at the Ed Center site continued to be used by the San Diego Unified School District for educational purposes and new buildings were constructed, all of which stand today. The history of these buildings is documented the San Diego State Normal School Campus and San Diego City Schools Historic Education Complex Historical Survey conducted by Urbana Preservation and Planning in February 2009 and commissioned by the University Heights Community Development Corporation.
Annex 1: Teachers Training Annex, built in 1910 by Nathan Ellery. Listed on National Register of Historic Places in 1999.
Annex 2: Alice Birney Elementary School Kindergarten Building, built in 1936 by master architect William Wheeler.
Annex 3: Horace Mann Jr. High School Domestic Science Hall & Band Room, built in 1936 by master architect William Wheeler.
Annex 4: San Diego Normal School Drafting Classroom & Men’s Locker Room, built in 1922 by an unknown architect, possibly Nathan Ellery.
Building 5: San Diego City Schools Eugene Brucker Education Center, built in 1955 by master architect Clyde Hufbauer.
Normal School Demolished
The monumental Normal School building was demolished by San Diego Unified School District in 1955, citing safety issues and a lack of compliance with building and fire codes, primarily due to the building auditorium’s second floor location. The site of the old Normal School is now a parking lot for the Education Center.
Heritage Trees
In addition to the historic buildings on the Normal School site, Save Our Heritage Organization (SOHO) in collaboration with Cultural Landscape Specialist Vonn Marie May, identified several possible heritage trees on the Normal School site in 2018. These include one massive Eucalyptus tree from the Normal School development of 1898, and possibly an Oak as well as several Queen Palms, located in the right of way along Normal Street and Campus Avenue.
In addition, several other clusters are likely from the later mid-century development for the Horace Mann Jr. High and the Alice Birney Elementary schools, which may also be associated with Jane Minshall, San Diego’s first female landscape architect.
Sadly, San Diego Unified School District removed the giant eucalyptus tree on Campus Avenue in 2019, citing safety reasons.