City Saves 102-Year-Old Del Mar Cottage

Del Mar’s 102-year-old E.D. Ten Eyck house has a new lease on life, thanks to an agreement reached Monday night between the City Council and a group of citizens working to save the venerable cottage.

By a unanimous vote, the council voted to enter into a formal agreement with four residents to move the house onto city property for eight months until a permanent site is found.

“It’s a win-win situation,” said Councilwoman Gay Hugo-Martinez. “The house will be kept on city property, but it won’t inhibit the plans we have for a community project on the site. It’s a solution the community wanted to see.”

Under the agreement, the city will probably provide $5,000 of the $8,000 it will cost to move the house, Hugo-Martinez said. The rest will be paid by the citizens who want to save the house.

“If they haven’t found a place for it after eight months,” she said, “it’s up to them to pay for its removal from city property.”

The controversy surrounding the house in downtown Del Mar began last month when new owners offered it to the city in lieu of tearing it down to build a new structure.

At the time, city officials said it would be too expensive to keep the house. But community members persuaded them otherwise.

“I feel very good about the council’s decision,” said Meredith Miller, a former resident of the house and one of the members of the save-the-house group. “It will be a piece of cake to raise the other $3,000.”

Miller said that the group already has at least three new sites in mind for the house, which it wants to turn into a museum.

“New ideas are coming in for it all the time,” Miller said.

Suren Dutia, the owner of the property, said he is also happy that the council gave the Ten Eyck house a reprieve.

“I had never given up hope,” he said.

The house will probably be moved to its temporary home on city property--just across the street from its existing site--by the end of the week, he said.