Two bedrooms, a small bathroom, hardwood floors and almost 23 years of memories are contained in a quaint bungalow built in 1925 in Hillcrest. But as of Monday morning, it began making its way to San Ysidro.
With the help of a local contractor, owner Anne Wilson is having the entire structure moved and recycled instead of demolishing it for a larger house.
After filing for a demolition permit, she got a call from Garnell Fitz-Henley, who saves existing homes and finds individuals or businesses to reuse them. Wilson’s 800-square-foot house will be used to create a new home for a local family.
Fitz-Henley said it simply made sense to preserve the material and labor that originally went into the building.
“When a building is demolished, so much material and energy goes to waste,” Fitz-Henley said in a statement. “Eighty-year-old solid oak or maple floors, gum wood built-ins, lead crystal — all of these precious materials, not including all the talent and energy expended by the original laborers — it simply makes sense to preserve and reuse all that.”
Fitz-Henley said that San Diego County’s Green Building Program reduces permitting time and fees to encourage recycling structures. He first qualified for the program in 2007, and he said so far he’s moved and recycled a dozen structures.
Wilson told KPBS: "I’ve watched them put this together all week, and it's been amazing to watch them jack my house, the house I grew up in, up 5 feet off the ground and put it on the back of a flatbed truck to reuse it."
