Unique House, Fun Personnel Connection and Odd Development Site/History, Dudley Peebles, Bowling Photographer House on Dictionary Hill

Today we find ourselves in a time where architects/designers are using sustainable or unique and unconventional materials in a race to prove who can do it cheaper or surprise the occupant with what that wall covering is actually made from. Well our home fits this bill only it was built by a commercial photographer from 1970 to 1974 for himself with walls covered in redwood sidewalk bend-a-board and rock from the site among other things.

The fun story about us and the builder is we discovered a unique connection to him when we were in escrow on this one of a kind house of our Dwell reader dreams. Our agent was out for dinner with his mother-in-law and her longtime boyfriend (Dudley Peebles, 89 years old at the time 94 now). During their normal conversation, they discovered that the house we were buying was the one Dudley had built. This is what led us to knowing more about the unique materials and to have access to pictures of it being built. (New and Old Photos Attached)

Where - Dictionary Hill:

Situated on a prehistoric volcano east of downtown San Diego. Dictionary Hill is a secret kept to its residents. The parcels on the southwest side of the hill were laid out without a topographical survey. With no developer interested in dealing with the insane topo, they gave the parcels away when you paid off your encyclopedia set. In the back of a dictionary they sent you after paying for the full set was a deed to a lot. People have built some unique houses over the years mixed in with 50 years of McMansion esc houses. Unlike the others who built lot line to lot line, ours is hidden above the street on terraced rock walls that Dudley built on his own from rock saved when he cut into the hill.

Builder - Dudley Peebles:

Dudley was a commercial photographer who toured with the professional bowling circuit taking photos. Google his name and there is a National Women Bowling Writers award named after him. The house includes a workshop with a small darkroom (no equipment today) off of the carport.

Us – Adam Meyer and Katie Petrie:

Adam manages the redevelopment program for the Port of San Diego which manages the lands around San Diego Bay. His team’s projects are as diverse as a new fish taco place on a ocean pier to a 1,600 room resort hotel and convention center on a 535 coastal redevelopment/brownfield site.

Katie is an Assistant Teaching Professor at UCSD with a focus on Micro Biology and Genomics.