A nearly century-old San Diego home made its way across the County Monday as it moved to a new location.
The 800-square foot house, built in 1925, was slowly moved from Hillcrest to its new home in San Diego’s South Bay.
The owner wanted to demolish the property so she could build a new, three-story home on the Vermont Avenue lot.
But instead of letting the property get destroyed, local entrepreneur Garnell Fitz-Henley, who specializes in saving homes from demolition, saw possibility. Fitz-Henley wanted to salvage the home.
“When a building is demolished so much material and energy goes to waste,” Fitz-Henley said in a statement. “Eighty-year-old solid oak or maple floors, gum wood built-ins, lead crystal. All of these precious materials, not including all the talent and energy expended by the original laborers. It simply makes sense to preserve and reuse all that. ”
The home’s original owner, Anne Wilson, said she enjoyed living in the house for 22 years, but was ready for a change.
“I hated the thought that it would just be demolished when I start to build a larger home. Fitz found me when an architect he works with heard of my project,” Wilson said in a statement. “He proposed salvaging rather than demolishing, which I was happy to hear was even a possibility. Working with him to move the house is actually saving me money in demolition costs.”
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Fitz-Henley, his contractor and a crew helped find the building a new physical home.
Soon, a new family will move into the home at its new location. The property is at a storage facility in Otay Mesa and will eventually be put on a lot in San Ysidro.
Fitz-Henley has worked to move or recycle dozens of previous structures in San Diego County.
