In 1926, Walter Sidney Broderick had a vision for the vacant slopes rising west of Florida Street between Cypress and Myrtle avenues.<\/p>\n
He had been dealing in San Diego real estate since 1907, when he started the Broderick-West Land Company with William H. West. By 1926, Broderick was operating his own firm, the Broderick Land Company, with his wife Annie.<\/p>\n In this conveniently located southwestern corner of University Heights, Broderick saw the potential for a terraced landscape of properties. He stated in the May 30, 1926 issue of San Diego Union that the area could be \u201cbeautified like the hillsides of Pasadena,\u201d nothing that \u201cterraced property usually assures unobstructed views.\u201d<\/p>\n Broderick bought land encompassing the west side of Florida Street and the east side of Georgia Street between Cypress and Myrtle avenues from Muriel and R.E. Hazard; this carved a new subdivision \u2014 or \u201ctract\u201d \u2014 out of Block 254 of the large University Heights subdivision, originally mapped in 1888. He called his subdivision \u201cWilshire Terrace\u201d and paved a new road \u2014 also named Wilshire Terrace \u2014 down the middle of it. However, he apparently never filed an official subdivision map.<\/p>\n Broderick announced the sale of lots on May 23, 1926. A San Diego Union article described Wilshire Terrace as \u201ca tract of 60 home sites, on which 10 beautiful homes have been built and five are building.\u201d<\/p>\n Two days later, a large advertisement in the Evening Tribune proclaimed, \u201cW.S. Broderick Presents 45 Beautiful Park-Sites five minutes from the Plaza \u2014 through Beauty to Beauty.\u201d The advertisement noted that the subdivision was \u201cone of the most imposing close-in subdivisions to be marketed locally in many years.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cSecond and Last Call\u201d for investment in the residential property of Wilshire Terrace \u201cOverlooking Balboa Park and the Ocean\u201d appeared in the May 30, 1926 issue of the San Diego Union. The available 50-foot frontage lots were offered at $1,400 to $1,750 with all improvements including concrete-paved street, gas, water, electricity, sewers, paved sidewalks and curbs.<\/p>\n By January 1927, individual residences and several apartment buildings had been built in an eclectic mix of Spanish Revival and Tudor Revival styles on 12 lots along the east side of Georgia Street. Broderick had built three two-story duplex buildings encompassing the addresses of 3503 through 3533 Georgia St., which he offered as an \u201cOpportunity Extraordinary in Wilshire Terrace … every building a model of architectural beauty and completeness\u201d in the May 26, 1926 issue of the San Diego Union. Two Spanish Revival homes had been built on the interior street at 3559 and 3608 Wilshire Terrace, and two Spanish Revival flats had been built facing Cypress Avenue. Six residences populated the west side of Florida Street southward from Cypress Avenue.<\/p>\n By 1928, Broderick had built three two-story duplexes on the east side of the interior street, encompassing the addresses of 3605 through 3639 Wilshire Terrace. But development faltered after the stock market crashed in 1929 and the Great Depression stifled the economy nationwide. Broderick Land Company disappeared from the City Directory in 1931, and Walter S. Broderick became a salesman for Carteri Furniture Company. Later in the 1930s and into the 1940s, he worked for several sign companies, including San Diego Neon Sign Company.<\/p>\n Broderick\u2019s vision did not end with the Depression, however. In May 1938, the San Diego Union announced that development within the Wilshire Terrace tract had begun again with \u201cunusual\u201d and \u201cdecidedly new and original\u201d homes by the Wilshire Building Company, which had acquired the last 25 lots of the tract. The architecture of the homes in this \u201cnew low-cost housing development on Wilshire Terrace\u201d reflected the move toward the simple and clean lines of the Ranch style.<\/p>\n The first and second homes offered were at 3550 and 3544 Wilshire Terrace. The third home, at 3524 Wilshire Terrace, was announced in the San Diego Union on June 12, 1938. This residence was described as \u201ctaken from the \u2018Home of the Month\u2019 first prize plan of the California Homes Magazine. [The home] overlooks Balboa Park, [and features a] large bay window, scenic paneled dining room, rose kitchen with corner sink, full tiled bath, beautiful bedrooms, double garage and small patio. Total price only $4300 including house, lot and garage, [and] all paving paid.\u201d<\/p>\n The sixth home, located at 3530 Wilshire Terrace, was described in a Sept. 25, 1938 San Diego Union article as \u201ccommanding a delightful outlook over the terraces below and to the east, including, on a clear day, a view of the south end of the bay and the mountains of Mexico.\u201d The houses had been dubbed \u201cSunshine Homes\u201d because of the \u201cmaximum amount of sunshine admitted to every one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n The May 15, 1938 announcement for the second Wilshire Building Company home noted, \u201cSales Manager Broderick declares that the unusual scenic beauty of the land here enables an artistic home builder to get desirable effects and preserve the natural beauty of hills and dales that overlook Balboa Park.\u201d<\/p>\n Perhaps Walter Broderick was still helping to make his vision a reality.<\/p>\n![\"Wilshire](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Hon-Photo-1-detail-row-of-houses-on-Georgia-5-23-1926.jpg\")
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