Downtown's Oldest Building Needs Financial Help

Speaker 1: 00:00 Even the oldest standing structure in downtown San Diego is not immune to the pandemics devastations KPBS reporter. Melissa May explains the trouble facing the historic heart of the Gaslamp district. The Davis Horton house is home to the Gaslamp museum, but it's been closed to the public since March, 2020. Now in financial distress, the Gaslamp quarter historical foundation has started a GoFundMe page to keep the museum open Reanne and Luna is the foundation's executive director. Speaker 2: 00:30 We've had a really rough year, like a lot of people. And so we're raising funds and raising awareness that the museum is in financial difficulties. And we may go away at the end of June, unless you're able to raise some extra funds Speaker 1: 00:44 Due to the pandemic restrictions. The foundation's normal revenue from tours and lectures disappeared, and their biggest fundraiser of the year was canceled twice. The Shamrock block party downtown every year. Now they're trying to raise $150,000 to keep the museum open built in 1850, the Davis Horton house marked the beginning of what is now the 16 and a half block Gaslamp historical district. Speaker 3: 01:07 This is really the centerpiece of the historic district because without us, we wouldn't have a historic district. Speaker 1: 01:15 Sandy Willhite is the lead tour guide and historian for the Gaslamp quarter historical society. She knows the importance of several buildings on fifth Avenue, but the little yellow saltbox museum, some most important the Davis Horton house originally served the military. Speaker 3: 01:31 It was home for officers. Army of the Pacific San Diego was originally just like a little blip where they stopped to refuel, but they did have the army presence here. And they lived in this house. The officer, Speaker 1: 01:46 The house is named after William Heath Davis it's first resident, as well as Alonzo Horton known as the father of San Diego. It then became Speaker 3: 01:54 The first County hospital and a German immigrant lady named Anna Shepherd. Single mother opened this up and she charged a dollar a day per patient. Speaker 1: 02:07 Eventually the house was donated to the city to become a museum. After four years of renovations, the Davis horn house opened to the public. Speaker 2: 02:14 You can come inside and take a look and see, you know, the history of San Diego kind of play out within these rooms is really special and there's not anything else like it. And Speaker 3: 02:24 San Diego get up and close and personal with the artifacts. Don't touch them, but you can get writing there and look out Speaker 1: 02:31 Them. If the museum did close, Speaker 2: 02:33 The building itself would return to the city. Um, the collections would have to be dispersed to other institutions. And so their original, um, donors, which would be very sad to lose this collection, especially some of it is historic to the house itself. And for that to leave you'd, you'd never get this museum back again. Speaker 1: 02:52 The museum staff and volunteers say closure would also mean uncertainty for the houses, permanent residents volunteer. Charlotte says she knows the house is haunted. Speaker 3: 03:02 I hate to lose those ghost. They'd have to move someplace else. Where would they go? And they don't mind if you, you know, listen, photograph, they don't care. They think it's nice to have company and they would be very lone SIM too. Speaker 1: 03:15 The museum is now open Fridays and Saturdays for self guided tours, Melissa ma KPBS news.