House Will Get a Home With Leucadia Couple

Ten Eyck Cottage, the 102-year-old house that Del Mar community members helped save from being demolished, has found a home in Leucadia.

The house, constructed by carpenter and builder E. D. Ten Eyck, was originally situated across the street from Del Mar City Hall, two blocks from the ocean. The structure is believed to be one of the oldest buildings in the area.

With the help of Friends of the House, a group of concerned citizens, and the Del Mar Historical Society, the house has found a home with a couple who will live in it. They will move it to a lot that has as neighbors a red schoolhouse and a house built in the 1920s, as well as several old eucalyptus trees, said Jess Undlin, one of the new owners.

Ann Dempsey, a member of Friends of the House, said Undlin and his wife, Laura, were chosen over about 60 other parties.

“They really did their homework,” Dempsey said. “They showed they were aware of the work that was involved and the problems that they would encounter.”

The Undlins, who were married in September, were living in La Jolla but have since moved to Leucadia to be closer to the lot the house will sit on.

The house will be moved to a lot on Vulcan Avenue near East Jason Street, just east of the railroad tracks.

“It had the charm of something you put a lot of TLC into,” Undlin said. “I have the skills and means to do it.”

Undlin said that, when he and his wife first saw the house in the Del Mar City Hall parking lot, they were impressed by its “very tall and somewhat Victorian style.”

Once the couple saw the inside, they were even more impressed.

“When we saw the 12-foot ceilings . . . and the old charm, that clued us in that it was worth putting our effort into it,” he said.

Undlin, a civil engineer who comes from a family of wood craftsmen, said he will do the renovation of the house himself.

“We will be upscaling the inside,” he said. “It’s in good shape, but it needs some changes to meet modern livability. . . . But I’m going to try to keep the flavor of the house intact.”

Dempsey said her group and the historical society don’t expect the changes to be drastic.

“The bottom line was to save the house,” she said.

The house came close to being demolished after the previous owners decided to build a two-story house on the land. After seeing the historical value of the Ten Eyck house, the owners decided last October to give it to the city of Del Mar.

The city turned down the gift because it had nowhere to put the house. Eventually, it was moved to the parking lot, with the restriction that it be moved by this July.

To be moved, the house will have to be cut in two and its roof taken off. The pieces will be reassembled in Leucadia. The moving will be done by Marquez Bros. House Movers, who moved it the first time.

The Undlins will pay $9,000 to Friends of the House and the historical society: $8,000 for moving the house from the original location to the parking lot and $1,000 for insurance the city required to let the house sit on the lot until a new home was found.

Dempsey said the city helped out with $5,000, and the rest was raised through the sale of post cards of the house, created by Meredith Miller, a previous tenant and a member of Friends of the House.

“Their history and their sincerity and their soul seemed to match the soul of the house,” Miller said of the Undlins. “He is a carpenter, and the house was built by a carpenter.”

Undlin said the house should be moved to Leucadia sometime in late April or early May.

“The housewarming will be in July,” he said. “I promised the historical society I’d throw a dinner.”