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Historical Subdivisions:
- Marcellena Tract est. 1896
- College View Estates est. 1954-58
- Aztec Heights est. 1960
- College Gardens Unit 2 est. 1960
- Montezuma Park est. 1964
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Fun Facts:
- College View Estates was one of local developer Leonard Drogin’s
earliest “high end” tracts, featuring both pre-built and custom homes.
The tract was popular with many professionals and SDSC professors.
- In addition to the original 1950s tract homes designed by Charles &
Arthur Scriebner of Chicago, College View Estates also includes custom
and “custom tract” homes designed by noted architects such as Henry
Hester, Palmer and Krisel, and Robert Ferris.
- Architectural styles in College View Estates include Ranch Style
Tract, Contemporary, Modern, and Earth-Integrated Organic—one of the
earliest earth-integrated homes in San Diego County.
- Several of the homes in the Aztec Heights subdivision feature Palmer &
Krisel’s California Contemporary style home built for Drogin’s
“Pacifica” tract on Mt. Soledad. This design won Life Magazine’s Best
Designed Home of 1960 award.
- Drogin, although he developed tracts in Del Cerro, Chula Vista, and La
Jolla, lived for many years in College View Estates.
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Description and Location of College View Estates:
- The combination of a unique mix of “custom” tract homes and
an off-the-beaten-path location, have made College View Estates one
of San Diego’s “hidden gem” neighborhoods. College View Estate's,
began in 1954, sits on a beautiful mesa-top just west of SDSU and
east of Alvarado Estates.
- Located on the plateau above Mission Valley,
adjacent and just west of San Diego
State University.
- The community at one point was planning to become gated, similar
to adjacent Alvarado Estates, when SDSU proposed COX arena.
- A lovely community with winding streets and a blend of architecture.
- College View Estates can be accessed from Remington Road (an
extension of 55th St that passes though SDSU)or from Montezuma Road between College
Avenue and Fairmount Avenue, just south of Interstate 8.
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More Information:
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General Boundaries
| North |
Interstate 8 |
| East |
Alvarado Estates |
| South |
Montezuma Road |
| West |
SDSU Campus |
Development History
College View Estates dates its suburban history back to 1954, shortly
following College Heights (the mesa top area bordering the south
boundary of the campus but north of Baja Canyon) which began in 1952.
These mesa-top tracts were the products of prolific Post World War II
builder and developer, Leonard L. Drogin. In the twenty years that
Drogin was in business in San Diego (1948-1968), he was responsible for
building over 4,000 homes.
Originally under the name of Harmony Homes, and later as his own
Drogin Construction Company, Drogin was noted for his up-scale,
custom suburban tracts. Several of these developments included
Grossmont Terrace in Fletcher Hills (1952-53), Harmony Manor in La
Mesa (1952-53), Euclid Mesa in Webster (1956), Bellaire
Terrace in Clairemont (1957), Point Loma Estates in Point Loma
(1959), Tierra Del Cerro (1960-61), and Point, Highlands, and Corona
Del Cerro (1961-65) in Del Cerro, the award-winning Pacifica and
Viewpoint Tracts at Mt. Soledad (1960-64), Bonita Woods
near Chula Vista (1964-65), and Campanile Terrace (1955-56), and
College Glen (1959-60) in the College Area.
College View Estates was one of Drogin’s first “custom” suburban
tracts and the site of his own home for many of those years.
Drogin, along with partners George Martin, Albert Steinbaum, and
other investors would plat out 8 separate units to the College View
Estates subdivision from 1954 to 1958 (the last two by Drogin
alone). Several additional tracts, H. I. Stevens’ College
Gardens #2 along Stone Court and College Gardens Court, with homes
built by Kasmir Tarnowski, and the six lot Aztec Heights on
Hewlett, would be added in the early 1960s.
Drogin, Martin, (his original partner), and Steinbaum, who had
been involved in other “College Area” developments in today’s El
Cerrito and Darnall areas, looked to create a more exclusive
development than the entry-level homes in those nearby areas.
College View Estates Opens…
The first Harmony Homes models for College View Estates opened in
November 1954. Harmony Homes had already built 46 homes
in nearby College Heights south of Montezuma Road.
Improvements such as sewers, streets, sidewalks, curbing, water and
gas were already installed when the advertisements first published.
The overall development called out for 280 homes. By the end
of 1955 Harmony Homes had completed over 50 houses in Units 1 and 2
(mostly along Hewlett, Redding, and Manhasset).
These mostly 3 and 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 1600-1800 square-foot
models had been designed by Chicago architects Charles and Arthur
Schreiber.
Early Ads noted that the “Harmony Model” home provided homebuyers
with “a masterpiece of open planning and contemporary design,
truly for the young at heart… [available with] 37 other wonderful
features.” These typical open plan “ranch style” homes
represent most of the homes built in the first four units of the
tract.
In late 1956 Drogin ended his relationship with Harmony Homes and
established the Drogin Construction Company to continue his
development of the tract. By the end of 1956, over 60
additional homes had been completed on Manhasset, Remington, Saxon,
Penny, Redding, and Hewlett. Most of these homes were also
modern ranch style Harmony models. Twenty-five additional homes were
built in 1957 only leaving a few empty lots in the first units.
In 1958 Drogin platted the more expensive canyon “view lots” of
Units 7 (Drover and Dorman Drives) and Unit 8 (Bixel Drive).
From 1958-62, Drogin refocused his efforts to fill in these
remaining lots and units with new and cutting edge Contemporary
styles. Aiming at a “professional” clientele, Drogin promoted
the great views and distinctive Contemporary homes as a reflection
of the exclusivity of the tract. As such Drogin also sold lots
so that buyers could bring in their own designs or contractors (he
did require his own “architectural review” to oversee his
desire to create an exclusive tract).
"Modernizing" College View Estates
Drogin and his staff’s interest in the newer Modern and
Contemporary styles reflected the success of noted 1950s suburban
tract builders such as Joseph Eichler (Eichler homes are some of the
most popular and sought after of 1950s suburban architecture).
Influenced by innovative Modern and Contemporary residential
architecture, such as promoted in California Arts and
Architecture magazine’s Case Study House program, these builders
took the latest in architectural design and incorporated it into
their suburban tracts.
Sparked by the successful sale of their very modern, but
affordable Palmer and Krisel designed College Glen tract on Baja
Drive in 1959, the Drogin Company also shifted its higher-end tract
models such as in College View Estates toward a more Modern
“California Contemporary” style. William “Bill” Krisel and Dan
Palmer, of Los Angeles, were already noted practitioners of
Modern/Contemporary suburban tracts with their work for developer
George Alexander in Palm Springs when the Drogin Company retained
their services.
In March 1960 Drogin salesman Stanley Swartz noted that the
firm had switched to the more extreme contemporary design styles as
an experiment. It met with such success that they went to the
style exclusively and had Palmer & Krisel design their new,
higher-end model homes.
Swartz’s quote revealed the fascination that builders such as
Drogin found with the style:
“Contemporary design, I believe, lends itself in more
livability…One of the things we have found is that by
following this type of design, we have realized economies in
construction and can give more actual living space…Another
factor…is that younger families are more inclined to buy the
contemporary style…in our Point Loma tract for example large
numbers of young naval officers and executives bought homes…”
For a home builder in the rapidly growing, and “Baby
Boom-swollen” youth driven San Diego of the period, Drogin’s gamble
paid off. The architectural experiment also resulted in a
national award in 1960 for the Palmer & Krisel Contemporary style
homes for the new Pacifica subdivision on Mt. Soledad. It is
these same house models that filled in much of College View Estates
Units 7 and 8—and the adjacent Aztec Heights lots.
Community Group
College View Estates has a vibrant community group, the
College View Estates Association (CVEA).
Read more about CVEA here.
Do you have a fun fact about your neighborhood? Is something missing?
Correction? Do you have a comment?
Please email us with your feedback.
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