Balboa Island gets its own home show

Luis Pena

While home tours have become a fundraising staple, Sunday will be the

first showing of historic homes on Balboa Island.

The inaugural Balboa Island Museum and Historical Society Home

Tour will feature eight historic cottages built before 1945, said

Peggy Marrotta a docent and member of the society.

“People just enjoy going through houses,” Marrotta said.

Maps will come with a $15 ticket price for the self-guided tour

that will take place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

There will be docents and homeowners who will give historical

background on the various cottages such as Carol Sherman, whose home

was built in 1925.

Instead of tearing the classic cottage down and replacing it with

a bigger, modern home, the Sherman’s chose to restore it and replace

the wiring and plumbing. The Sherman’s don’t have air conditioning

and rely on fire logs for their heat.

Another home on the tour will be Cathy Parks’ 1928 redwood

cottage. The rustic home wasn’t just a vacationers dwelling in its

prime, but lived in year round.

Visitors will be able to go into the kitchen and view a drop-down

dinner table that folds up into the wall like an old-fashioned Murphy

bed.

Barbara Martin’s 1932 English-style cottage at 118 Apolena, was built by famous architect and builder Leon Yale. It has sloped

ceilings, honed wood rails and two fireplaces with turned bricks

randomly placed.

“When you walk in through the gates you feel like you’re in a

house in the English countryside” Martin said.

The historic dwellings have a great deal of personality and

appeal, which Parks urges people to view while they are still

standing. The homes are slowly being bought and then torn down

because the property is worth millions, she said.

All the cottages on the tour are designated by a special plaque

that shows the commitment that the homeowners have made toward there

preservation.

The funds raised by the tour will go toward the society.