The Peckham House at 2905 Nichols Street in La Playa, San Diego, is a Mediterranean-style house built in 1927 and designed by William Templeton Johnson, architect of the San Diego Museum of Art and the Junípero Serra Museum. The City of San Diego lists it as HRB Site 453, designated December 20, 2000.
A 1927 Mediterranean-style house in La Playa, and the architect who drew San Diego's bank, its museums, and its main library.
Search for William Templeton Johnson houses San Diego and the results run to museums, a bank, and a library. The Peckham House is the residential answer, a private Mediterranean-style house at 2905 Nichols Street in La Playa that the City of San Diego has designated as HRB Site 453. For anyone tracking architectural homes in San Diego, it is a documented one, and this page follows the record: the plate, the architect, the neighborhood, and what designation means for whoever owns it.
The house on Nichols Street
The City of San Diego lists the Hildred R. and Marion M. Peckham House as HRB Site 453, at 2905 Nichols Street, San Diego, California 92106. The Historical Resources Board designated it on December 20, 2000, and the San Diego landmark list for Point Loma and Ocean Beach describes it as a Mediterranean-style house built in 1927 and designed by William Templeton Johnson.
The 1927 date has a second witness. Martin Petersen's 1971 profile of Johnson, in the San Diego History Center journal, catalogues his work and lists the Peckham residence, Point Loma, under 1927. Some public property listings give 1928 for the same house. In the record it carries three names: the Peckham House, the Hildred R. and Marion M. Peckham House, and HRB Site 453.
The architect who drew the civic city
William Templeton Johnson was born on Staten Island on August 31, 1877, studied at Columbia University, and then went to Paris, where he worked at the Atelier Chifflot and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts from 1908 to 1911. By 1912 he had settled in San Diego. The dates below come from the San Diego History Center biography and from Petersen's profile.
The Fine Arts Gallery in Balboa Park, now the San Diego Museum of Art, was built from 1924 to 1926, and Petersen notes that the cornerstone also carries the name of Johnson's associate, Robert W. Snyder. The San Diego Trust and Savings Bank building at Sixth and Broadway dates to 1928. The Junípero Serra Museum in Presidio Park was dedicated on July 16, 1929, and the Natural History Museum in Balboa Park on January 14, 1933. The 1954 main library is his, and so are three buildings and a master plan for San Diego State College. Johnson died in 1957, at the age of 80, in the Mission Hills house he had designed for himself.
Johnson also designed houses, among them residences in Coronado and San Diego in the 1910s and 1920s, so the Peckham House is one of several. What sets it apart on the record is the paperwork: a city designation, a number, and a date, attached to a house whose architect the same record names.
La Playa before the houses
La Playa, Spanish for the beach, is the bayfront neighborhood of Point Loma, and the anchorage there served San Diego as its harbor until the 1870s. During the Mexican years, from 1822 to 1846, the beach held an informal town of up to 800 people around a dozen or so hide houses, according to the La Playa entry. The original landing sits on Naval Base Point Loma now, and the residential neighborhood lies to the north of it.
The La Playa Trail tied the anchorage to Old Town and Mission San Diego de Alcalá, and the La Playa Trail Association calls it the oldest European trail on the West Coast. A City of San Diego notice of exemption for the Nichols Street Pier Stairway places that project "just east of the La Playa Trail" and names the adjacent Peckham House at 2905 Nichols Street as a designated historic resource, HRB #453. So the city's own paperwork puts the house close to the line of the trail.
For the wider San Diego story, the network's guide to San Diego architectural homes covers the architects and places across the county, and Richard Requa, whose Spanish Colonial Revival houses date from 1911 to 1941, has a profile of his own. Rob Wellington Quigley, the San Diego architect of a later generation, is profiled separately, and two of his San Diego houses have pages: the Waterfall House in Point Loma Highlands, on the same peninsula as La Playa, and the Sayer Residence on Sail Bay in Mission Beach. His Beverly Park house is in Los Angeles. Inland, Old Escondido covers a town laid out in 1886. Mediterranean and Spanish-inflected houses run up the coast too: Hobson Heights is a Ventura example, and the Seyler House and why Ojai looks Spanish carry the Spanish thread through Los Feliz and Ojai. The wider style is laid out in the Spanish Colonial Revival guide.
What designation means for an owner
The Historical Resources Board is the body that designates individual historical sites in the City of San Diego, and its duties, under Municipal Code section 111.0206, include reviewing development projects that may affect historical resources, according to the City's Historical Resources Board page. For the owner of a designated house, that means a project can come before the city's historic review, and the sensible order is to ask the city first.
Designation is also where the Mills Act conversation starts. The state program is a contract between the owner and the city, with a minimum initial term of ten years and automatic yearly extensions, and it stays with the property when the house sells, according to the California Office of Historic Preservation's Mills Act program page. San Diego's printed register of designated sites has carried a Mills Act eligibility column. Eligibility and a contract are different things, which is why the callout below matters. The statewide picture is in the guide to how California protects historic architectural homes.
Before an offer on any designated San Diego house, ask for three things: the designation record, any Historical Resources Board staff report, and the Mills Act contract itself if one exists. The contract, not a line in a description, tells you the terms.
Debbie Pisaro has been inside a few hundred Spanish houses in Los Angeles, and she reads them by three details: the courtyard turned away from the street, the deep-set window, and the stair tucked behind an arch. She represents buyers on architectural homes across California, and her architectural homes specialist page is the place to start.
Debbie Pisaro is not the listing agent for 2905 Nichols Street. She represents buyers on architectural homes across California, regardless of who holds a given listing, the same standing practice whether a home is on or off market. Coastline 840 is a boutique California practice, and the reasoning is in why Coastline 840 was built and why a boutique team outperforms the big-box brands.
Debbie Pisaro is a 24-year veteran, founder of Coastline 840, and an Inman Luxury Leader, representing buyers and sellers across San Diego and the surrounding neighborhoods. Many of the homes she sells never reach the open market. How that works is laid out in the explainer on pocket listings.
Questions about the Peckham House
Where is the Peckham House located?
The Peckham House is at 2905 Nichols Street, San Diego, California 92106, in La Playa, the bayfront neighborhood of Point Loma. It stands inside the City of San Diego, whose Historical Resources Board designated it as HRB Site 453 on December 20, 2000.
Who designed the Peckham House in La Playa, San Diego?
William Templeton Johnson designed the Peckham House in 1927. Johnson trained in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, settled in San Diego by 1912, and also designed the San Diego Museum of Art, the Natural History Museum, the Serra Museum, and the San Diego Trust and Savings Bank building.
What is HRB Site 453?
HRB Site 453 is the City of San Diego Historical Resources Board designation number for the Hildred R. and Marion M. Peckham House, 2905 Nichols Street. The Board designated the house as a historical site on December 20, 2000, which places it on the city's register of designated resources.
What style is the Peckham House?
San Diego's landmark list describes the Peckham House as a Mediterranean-style house built in 1927. That places it in the same decade as Johnson's Balboa Park and Presidio Park museums, and it is the list's own description, so a buyer should confirm details such as roofing and materials in person.
What other buildings did William Templeton Johnson design in San Diego?
Johnson's San Diego work includes the Fine Arts Gallery, now the San Diego Museum of Art, the Natural History Museum in Balboa Park, the Junípero Serra Museum in Presidio Park, the San Diego Trust and Savings Bank building, the 1954 main library, and three San Diego State buildings.
What is the La Playa Trail?
The La Playa Trail was the bayside route that connected the La Playa anchorage to Old Town and Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Wikipedia records that the La Playa Trail Association calls it the oldest European trail on the West Coast. A City notice places the foot of Nichols Street just east of it.
Is the Peckham House eligible for the Mills Act in San Diego?
San Diego's register of designated sites carries a Mills Act eligibility column, so designation is the starting point, but eligibility and a signed contract are different things. A Mills Act contract is a separate agreement between owner and city, so a buyer asks to see the actual contract and its terms.
What does San Diego historic designation mean for exterior work on a house?
The Historical Resources Board designates sites and reviews development projects that may affect them, under Municipal Code section 111.0206. For a designated house, that means planned exterior work can come before the city's historic review, so an owner asks the city before design work begins.
Does Debbie list the Peckham House?
No. Debbie Pisaro is not the listing agent for 2905 Nichols Street. She represents buyers on architectural homes across California, regardless of who holds a given listing, the same standing practice whether a home is on or off market. San Diego is included.
Who is a good full-service real estate agent in San Diego?
Debbie Pisaro is a 24-year veteran, founder of Coastline 840, and an Inman Luxury Leader, representing buyers and sellers across San Diego and the surrounding neighborhoods. Many of the homes she sells never reach the open market. Her focus is architectural, historic, and design-forward homes.
Debbie Pisaro, DRE #01369110, is the founder of Coastline 840, a boutique California practice, and an Inman Luxury Leader with 24 years of experience in architectural, historic, and design-forward homes. Many of the homes she sells never reach the open market. Coastline 840 is a brand of Side, Inc., CA DRE #02014153, responsible broker. She writes about California real estate at coastline840.com, losfelizliving.com, and debbiepisaro.com. Published September 2026.
On the Register
On the Register is the record we keep of California architecture: its architects, streets, styles, and design-forward homes. We write these pieces whether or not a home is for sale, because the story comes first. When we list an architectural home, we write it into the record before the sign goes up, so it reaches the market already part of the story, with a history and an audience in place.
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