Marston House is one of California’s finest examples of the Arts and Crafts movement and was constructed in 1905 for George Marston and his wife, Anna. The property was designed and built by the internationally renowned architects William Sterling Hebbard and Irving Gill. Surrounded by five acres of rolling lawns, manicured formal gardens, and rustic canyon gardens, this 8,500 square foot home became a house museum in 1987 after the Marston family gifted it to the city.
The Marston House Museum is located on 7th Avenue at the corner of Upas Street, at the north edge of Balboa Park. The surrounding neighborhood has been named Marston Hills and now encompasses the general area north of Upas Street, east of 6th Avenue, west of Park Boulevard and south of Pennsylvania Avenue. It is a very special community of San Diego, sandwiched in between the amazing 1,400 acre Balboa Park and the vibrant village of Hillcrest. In addition to Marston House, there are many other fabulous estate homes within Marston Hills. So who was George Marston?
George Marston was one of the great community servants in the history of San Diego. He was born in Fort Atkinson, Wis. Oct. 22, 1850. In 1866, he entered the preparatory department of Beloit College, where he played right fielder for the baseball team.
Marston’s first job in San Diego was as a clerk in the Horton House Hotel, which had opened just one week before his arrival. Among his duties there was brushing the dust off visitors’ clothing before they entered the hotel. After six months at Horton House, he took a job with Aaron Pauly and Sons general merchandise store, warehouse and wharf office. Starting in 1872, he clerked for storekeeper Joseph Nash for five years before him and a partner, Charles Hamilton, bought out Nash for $10,000. In 1872, Marston and Hamilton helped open a free reading room. In 1873 he was secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, and later its president.
In 1882, Marston served on the first board of trustees of the public library, and was instrumental in the founding of the YMCA in San Diego. From 1887 to 1889, he served on the San Diego City Council. Marston ran for mayor of San Diego in 1913 and 1917; he lost both times, after critics somewhat unfairly painted him as unfriendly to business and interested in beautification rather than growth.
In 1902 Marston put up $10,000 so the Park Commission could hire Samuel Parsons, the landscape architect for the City of New York, to prepare the first comprehensive plan for Balboa Park. Later, he again contributed his personal funds, so that the City Council could hire John Nolen, one of the nation’s outstanding city planners. Nolen prepared the city’s first comprehensive plan in 1908, and returned in 1926 to draw up a more detailed plan, which was adopted as a guide to San Diego’s urban development.
George Marston was known for his love of ice skating and was still skating at the age of 90. He may have died in 1946 at the age of 96, but he is not forgotten.
The Marston House Museum is located at 3525 7th Ave. and is open to the public. General admission for House tours is $10 for adults, $7 for seniors 65 and over, $4 for children 6-12 and free for children under 5. For more information on the Marston House call 619-297-9327.
Trent St. Louis is a licensed Real Estate Agent
and a member of the National, California and
San Diego Association of Realtors. You can reach Trent at trent@tns.net or at his office in Hillcrest, The Metropolitan Group. DRE#01273643.
