New! Guide to Researching Your Home

Historically-designated homes of University Heights

Founded in 1888, University Heights is one of San Diego’s oldest neighborhoods. And chances are, you live in an older home with a story to tell.  Perhaps you have wondered who built the house or who has lived there before you. You might even be interested in having your home historically-designated. But where do you start?

The University Heights Historical Society has compiled an online guide to help you get started, drawing upon information from the City of San Diego Historical Resources Regulations and Guidelines and Save Our Heritage Organisation’s Guide to Researching Your Home.

As an owner of an older home, there are many resources available to you for researching its history. And many of those resources are now available online.

If you are really motivated, you might even consider nominating your home for historic designation as there are several potential benefits including:

• Eligibility for significant property tax reductions through the Mills Act

• Potential tax credits of 20% to 25% through the California State Historic Tax Credit for qualified rehabilitation expenditures for rehabilitation of a certified historic structure or a qualified residence

• Potential tax benefits for historic preservation easements

• City of San Diego development incentives for the preservation of designated historic resources including exclusion of designated historic resources from parking calculations and Floor Area Ratio (FAR) limits; as well as new allowances for deviations from base zone development regulations, such as setbacks, height, coverage, etc.

• Use of the more lenient California Historical Building Code for all local, state and federal historically-designated sites

• Potential increase in property values, as documented by many studies

Fortunately for San Diego, the City of San Diego has a very active Historic Resources Department with a well-defined process for nominating your home for designation.

Whatever your goal, get started today by checking our online research guide!