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.

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.