Older Eden Gardens Homes: A Foundation Briefing for Remodelers

Summary for owners and design teams

• La Colonia de Eden Gardens is, in the City’s words, the oldest neighborhood in Solana Beach, built largely of single-level adobe residences by the families who settled it around 1920.
• Many original homes have since been replaced. A single block can hold a 1920s structure, a mid-century rebuild, and a recent two-story home.
• Because of that mix, the era and foundation type of any given house should be verified, not assumed, before remodel design begins.
• Solana Beach has adopted the 2025 California Existing Building Code and Historical Building Code alongside the residential code, so the path for a remodel depends on what the existing building actually is.
• A short pre-design structural evaluation is usually the least disruptive way to answer these questions.

Background: a neighborhood rebuilt in layers

The City’s history page describes how workers who maintained Rancho Santa Fe’s estates, barred by that community’s racial covenant from living there, first lived in tents and then built their own homes in La Colonia. The Solana Beach Civic and Historical Society dates the neighborhood’s founding to 1920 and notes that early residents helped build one another’s houses. A 1923 subdivision added the Eden Gardens name; the full neighborhood today is La Colonia de Eden Gardens. When Solana Beach incorporated in 1986, La Colonia was included in the new city.

By 1990, the Los Angeles Times was reporting that many of the original adobes had been torn down and replaced with more modern houses, condominiums and apartments. That process has continued. For a remodeler, the practical consequence is simple: the house on a given Eden Gardens lot may be the first structure there, a replacement, or a replacement built partly on an older footprint.

1. Establish what is actually standing on the lot

Before anyone sketches, answer three questions in writing:

1. When was the main structure built? Assessor data gives a recorded year, but additions and rebuilds can blur it.
2. Has it been rebuilt, in whole or in part? Look for permit records of demolition, reconstruction, or major additions.
3. What is the wall system? Wood frame, masonry, adobe, or a combination. An original adobe wall that was later plastered can look like ordinary stucco from the street.

These answers drive almost everything else in this briefing.

2. Identify the foundation type before design

Three broad possibilities appear in older Solana Beach housing:

• Slab-on-grade, common in later rebuilds
• Raised wood floor on a perimeter foundation, with a crawl space
• Older or mixed systems, where an early structure was extended with a newer foundation, or where the original footing is shallow or unreinforced

No citywide data establishes how common each type is in Eden Gardens, and this briefing doesn’t assume one. A crawl-space hatch, a look at the perimeter, and the permit file usually settle it. Our raised foundation repair and slab foundation repair pages describe the conditions each type tends to develop.

3. Check the seams between eras

Mixed-era houses tend to show distress at their seams, where an addition meets the original house or where a newer foundation abuts an older one. Items to record:

• Cracks running along the joint between old and new construction
• Floors that step or slope at a doorway between sections
• Differences in floor height or framing direction under the house
• Separate roof planes that have shifted relative to each other

These are not automatically defects. They are information the design team needs, because a remodel that ties old and new together more tightly changes how both behave.

4. Seismic questions for older raised floors

The California Residential Mitigation Program notes that houses built before 1980 may not be properly anchored to their foundations, and that houses with short wood-framed crawl-space walls, often called cripple walls, may need bracing as well as bolting. If an Eden Gardens home has a raised floor and predates 1980, anchorage and bracing belong on the pre-design checklist. See our seismic retrofit page.

Older masonry and adobe walls raise separate seismic questions that are specific to the building. They call for evaluation by a design professional with relevant experience, and they are exactly the kind of condition where the City’s adoption of the Historical and Existing Building Codes may matter. Owners should ask the City early which code path applies.

5. Records and permits

The City’s Building Services Division reviews plans, issues permits, and notes that its initial review determines which permits a project may require based on scope and location. For an older Eden Gardens home, assemble:

• Any permit history the City holds for the address
• Prior inspection reports, especially from purchase
• Any engineering or soils letters from earlier work
• Photographs of the crawl space, perimeter, and seams

A complete file shortens the conversation with plan reviewers and helps the design team avoid surprises once walls are opened.

6. Site and drainage

Remodels often add hardscape, change roof drainage, or move landscaping. On older foundations, those changes can redirect water toward footings that were never built for it. Record where roof water goes now, whether soil is piled against walls, and whether any part of the lot holds water after rain. They are simpler to correct during a remodel than to discover afterward.

7. When to bring in a structural evaluation

A pre-design foundation inspection is most useful when:

• The house’s era or wall system is uncertain
• The remodel adds a second story, removes walls, or ties into an older section
• There are visible cracks, sloping floors, or separation at seams
• The crawl space shows moisture, rot, or missing anchorage

The evaluation should document conditions, identify which questions need engineering input, and set out what the remodel design must account for. Where structural design or calculations are required, we coordinate with licensed engineers as needed.

Numbered takeaways

1. Treat the era of any Eden Gardens home as something to verify.
2. Confirm the wall system, including whether adobe or masonry remains.
3. Identify the foundation type before design starts.
4. Inspect the seams between construction eras.
5. Put anchorage and bracing on the list for older raised floors.
6. Ask the City early which code path applies.
7. Assemble the permit and inspection file before plan review.

Remodeling an older home in La Colonia de Eden Gardens, or anywhere in Solana Beach? Request a Free Quote for a pre-design structural evaluation. A related briefing on coastal cost factors covers what drives scope on the coastal side of town.