A Corner of La Jolla Named Historic Site

Nearly 90 years after some villagers, calling themselves the Library Assn. of La Jolla, established a community reading room in their seaside burg--then a day’s walk from San Diego--the San Diego Historical Site Board has decided to designate the association’s three buildings as historic sites.

The public library, Athenaeum and Parker buildings, totaling about 10,000 square feet in downtown La Jolla on Wall Street at Girard Avenue, were granted the protective historic site designation during a meeting Wednesday.

“It’s a very important corner of the community and we hope to make sure that this corner stays the way it was,” said association Director Alex Farnsley.

The library building, at 1006 Wall St., sits where the original La Jolla reading room was established in 1899. The building, constructed in 1921, was initially designed as a war memorial by prominent San Diego architect William Templeton Johnson. It served as a private library until 1958, Farnsley said.

The San Diego public library has used the building ever since, but now plans to move in the spring to a new home several blocks away. Farnsley said the building will then be restored so it can house the association’s expanding library collection, programs and staff.

Named for the ancient Roman center of arts and music, the single-story Athenaeum building, at 1008 Wall St., was erected in 1957 and is home to the association’s Music and Arts Library and Athenaeum School of the Arts.

The third association property designated a historic site is the one-story Parker Building at 7917 Girard Ave. that was built in 1928 and named after early La Jolla physician Truman Parker. The library association leases the Parker building to a sweater store, and to the La Jolla Art Assn., which pays rent of $1 a year.