By Priscilla Lister
SDUN Columnist

Kensington is a beloved neighborhood for its historic single-family homes, many of which were developed to be distinctly Californian.

While there are several examples of Monterey, bungalow, Craftsman, and mid-century modern style homes, Kensington is perhaps best known for its Spanish-style architecture. The neighborhood offers a wonderful place to walk and explore the well-tended homes and gardens.

You’ll have a chance to see inside six of its historic homes in the Centennial Edition of the Landmarked Homes of Kensington Tour on Sat., April 24, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Kensington celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. Named for a borough in London, Kensington is actually a collection of five original subdivisions. The first, Kensington Park, was mapped in April 1910 and opened for lot sales in November 1910. Subsequent subdivisions were Kensington Park Annex, Kensington Park Extension, Kensington Talmadge and Kensington Heights.

The final subdivision of Kensington Heights consisted of 115 acres overlooking Mission Valley, sitting “high on a dry mesa surrounded by chaparral-wooded canyons, (overlooking) a broad rambling valley, cooled by breezes blown in over the ocean from the west,” wrote Anne Bullard in the San Diego Historical Society’s Journal of San Diego History, Spring 1995.

The Davis-Baker Co. of Los Angeles was responsible for developing Kensington Heights, which lies north of Adams Avenue and where most of the Spanish-style homes reside. Davis-Baker had developed 25 subdivisions in Pasadena by 1925, and Kensington would have a similar look and feel.

The company hired one of San Diego’s most respected and historically significant architects, Richard Requa, to head the design of Kensington Heights. Requa “wanted to define a typical California style of architecture based on Spanish and Mediterranean styles,” Bullard wrote.

“The developers of Kensington Heights believe that in furthering the true type of Spanish architecture, they are in a measure perpetrating traditions of San Diego,” reads an early Davis-Baker brochure. Requa sought designs that evoked the atmosphere of early California and its missions. He had traveled extensively in Spain and documented the architecture of the region, especially the arches, red-tiled roofs and white stucco walls.

The landscape designs of these Spanish-style homes were also dictated by Requa and his love for Spain, and included the planting of palm trees along the parkways, as well as colorful bougainvillea, acacia and oleander in the yards.

Talmadge, sometimes called a cousin of Kensington but part of those original five subdivisions, was established in 1925 by real estate developers Roy and Guy Lichty. One of their investors was John Shenick, who was married to silent screen star Norma Talmadge. The community was named for her and her sisters, Constance and Natalie, but while they attended openings in the neighborhood, they never lived there.

One of the homes on this year’s tour is often called the Talmadge Sisters’ house, according to lifelong Kensington Heights resident Robert Sedlock. But it’s also known as The Wonder House of Stone. The 1926 home boasts a striking round tower and sits regally on the corner of Adams Avenue and East Talmadge Drive.

Right across the street is another home on this year’s tour, the 1931 Florence E. Mead House, 4697 East Talmadge Drive, which features an imposing and decorated arched front porch. Born in England in 1863, Florence Mead came to San Diego in 1913 with her physician husband, Francis H. Mead, M.D., and until her death in 1949 was a leader in supporting the Rest Haven open air camp for children with tuberculosis.

While not on the tour, don’t miss a look at the Lindstrom House at 4669 East Talmadge Drive, designed by Cliff May. Born in San Diego in 1908, May is considered the father of the California Ranch House. He was Roy Lichty’s son-in-law, having married Lichty’s daughter, Jean.

Also on the tour are the Dr. James and Leona Parker House, 1923, located south of Adams Avenue at 4637 Marlborough Drive and featuring a three-arched portico on the front, serving as a balcony for the second story.

The other three homes on the tour lie on the north side of Adams Avenue in Kensington Heights.

The large Spanish-style home at 5301 Marlborough Drive is open on the tour.

Just a few blocks away, the 1929 Edward C. Mann House, 4234 Ridgeway Drive, is also open for touring. A beautiful Spanish eclectic design, it was built by the famed Bathrick Brothers Co. of Pasadena, according to the Heart of Kensington organization, sponsor of this year’s Annual Landmarked Homes of Kensington Tour.

This four-bedroom home was built for Dr. Edward C. and Betty Avery Mann. Dr. Mann attended the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y., when an assassin shot President William McKinley. Dr. Mann administered morphine to the fallen president, while his father, Dr. Matthew D. Mann, performed surgery in an attempt to remove the bullets.

Farther down the same street at its cul-de-sac end is the 1941 A.L. and Cleveland Dennstedt House, also open on the tour. A.L. Dennstedt, with his brother, A.E. Dennstedt, were master builders in San Diego, producing high-end custom homes in Kensington, La Jolla and Point Loma beginning in 1926. Their firm continued until 1988.

The Dennstedt House on this tour, 4372 Ridgeway Drive, is a ranch-style, classic California brick-and-stucco home. The Dennstedts’ daughter, Alberta, lived here from the time the house was built until her death last year at 92. Her nephew now owns the home, which is filled with antiques.

While not on this year’s open-house tour, there are several other homes worth noting nearby during your stroll.

Robert P. Sedlock, Jr., and his wife, Marilen Hage Sedlock, live in the gorgeous 1929 Spanish beauty at 4256 Ridgeway Drive. Richard Requa designed it as a model home for the Davis-Baker Co.

“He had no restrictions, and designed it according to what he thought a perfect California house should be,” Marilen said. The couple plans to apply for historic designation for their home soon.

Across the street at 4313 Ridgeway Drive sits the 1934 Casa del Sol, rumored to have been designed by Requa.

At the end of the Ridgeway cul-de-sac, where a lovely landscaped circle with bench beckons, is the splendid Spanish eclectic beauty at 4357 Ridgeway Drive. This home was built in 1931 by master architect Wayne McAllister, with interiors by his wife, master interior designer Corinne McAllister. Wayne McAllister, born in 1907 in San Diego, is widely known for his historic designs of Tijuana’s Agua Caliente, the iconic 1949 Bob’s Big Boy restaurant in Burbank, and the original Las Vegas hotels, the El Cortez, the Desert Inn, the Sands and the Fremont.

Right next door at 4351 Ridgeway Drive is a 1950 mid-century modern masterpiece by Lloyd Ruocco, universally regarded as one of San Diego’s fathers of the post-war modern architectural movement. Ruocco, also born in 1907 in San Diego, got his first job as a draftsman for Richard Requa.

Bob Sedlock also pointed us to the imposing home dubbed “House of Princes” on the edge of Fairmount Canyon at 4440 Braeburn Road. This home boasts one of the oddest historical stories.

It was built in 1929 by Judge Joseph Rutherford, the second leader of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who lived there until his death in 1941. The home features a third-floor watchtower, in keeping with the name of his religion’s publication.

Rutherford called his home “Beth Sarim,” and in 1930 he deeded it to “King David, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthae, Samuel and sundry other mighties of ancient Palestine … positive that they are shortly to reappear on earth,” according to a Time magazine article from that year.

Thomas Baumann devotes an entire chapter in his book, “Kensington-Talmadge: 1910-1985,” to Judge Rutherford. Baumann also notes that the beautiful Spanish home on Braeburn Road was later owned by developer G. Aubrey Davidson, whom Baumann considers the principal founder of Kensington. Davidson was also president of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce in 1909 when he led a campaign to hold the Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park in 1915-16.

The Heart of Kensington’s website, heartofkensington.org, has photos of more than 30 historically designated homes in Kensington, inviting you to make your own walking tour.

But for the April 24 open-house tour, buy tickets for $25 in advance at Kensington Video or on the day of the tour at event headquarters, the historic 1910 Duehn-St. John residence at 4720 Kensington Drive, home of the Fraternal Spiritualist Church.

Your ticket will admit you to all six of the homes on tour as well as a lecture at noon at the event headquarters by Ron V. May, a professional archaeologist and president of Legacy 106, consultants in historic preservation. May’s talk, “The Changing Face of Adams Avenue,” will cover the various architectural styles found along the main street of Kensington, from Spanish Colonial Revival to Streamline Moderne.