Mansion work no vane hope—replica goes up

The great house was a shambles three years ago.

But today the rambling Victorian mansion on the hill at 24th and J Sts. Looks much like it did in 1887 when the widow, Mrs. C. Morris Livingston, built it for $5,000.

The crowning touch came when a shiny new, hand-crafted weather vane—a replica of the original—was mounted atop the house’s three-story conical tower.

“Livingston House,” as the mansion is known, is the residence of the Rev. Mr. Robert Stevens, pastor of the 2,000-member Christ Church Unit.

“It’s the cherry at the top of the sundae,” Mr. Stevens said happily about the new weather vane. The work of restoration is almost completed, he said.

The vane was made by veteran architectural sheet metal worker Charles Foltz. Using galvanize iron, it took him more than 67 hours to complete the 18 in. high vane. He made a pattern for it from the rusted original vane.

Inside, the house is furnished with authentic Victorian antiques, much as Mrs. Livingston might have chosen 86 years ago. Mr. Stevens has collected some of them over the last 20 years. Others he inherited from his family, he said.

Mr. Steven’s house is considered a sister house of the well-known Jesse Shepard House, also called Villa Montezuma. But though his house was declared a historical site by the city of San Diego on March 6, 1972, the minister maintains it as his private residence, not a public museum.

The house is one of the best preserved and one of the few lived in as a residence in the city,” Mr. Stevens said.

Like any antique buff, he hopes other residents will show interest in restoring the many Victorian houses still standing I the Golden Hills area, where his house is located.

“These houses are real bargains and fun to live in,” he said. “And I think we have a great deal more to save here than, for instance, the Los Angeles area. They’ve already bull-dozed under most of theirs.”

Mr. Stevens has restored the carriage house which is also on his property.

“And if gas prices get worse, I may buy a horse,” Mr. Stevens said—“unless the price of hay goes up, too.”

Livingston House, a Victorian mansion at 24 and J St., has a new weathervane, a crowning effort in the 1887 structure’s restoration. Work goes on.