From the inside, the houses look just like any homes built in the 1920s. There's a living room and a small kitchen complete with stove, sink and refrigerator.
But it's the outside that makes these homes unique — they look like boats.
"The Boathouses were built by Miles Kellogg and his family," said Bart Smith, president of the Encinitas Preservation Association. "He got the inspiration to build houses that look like boats, so that's what he did. And they were completed in like 1927."
Smith said Kellogg got the wood for the house from either a bathhouse or dance hall at Moonlight Beach, but John Knowles, a board member of the Preservation Association, heard the story differently.
“The way I've heard the story was during prohibition, (the dance hall) was torn down, and ... this boat builder decided to bring it up here and build these boats,” he said.
The S.S. Encinitas and Moonlight, as the homes are named, have been here ever since. In 2019, the homes were listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
But time has taken its toll on the homes. There are dry rot, rust stains and peeling paint. Inside, there are leaks.
"These boats have always leaked, always had water problems," Knowles said. As a restoration contractor, it's been his job to do what he can to restore the homes.
The S.S. Encinitas has started to list to the right. There's a scaffolding preventing it from leaning further to the right, but the Boathouses are in danger of collapsing.
"It was getting concerning back in 2018. And, then, it just started accelerating. So, we did an emergency brace building," Knowles said. "They're tied together one side of the other through the boat, and that has really slowed it down, but it seems to be accelerating again."
He said all it takes is a big storm or an earthquake for a piece of Encinitas' history to be gone forever. Last year, Hurricane Hilary did a number on the homes. The winds ripped off the front overhang completely and one of the support posts moved and is now in danger of slipping off the foundation.
“But, we've got a good plan to support it," Knowles said. "(The Moonlight) here is collapsing. The bow is has dropped many inches. And, it's more important to get some kind of shoring on that one that will allow us to redo the entire structure.”
But all that costs money, roughly $350,000 for each of the homes.
The homes were occupied until recently. The last tenant moved out in April. The Preservation Association is planning some fundraisers between now and early next year.
They plan to restore the homes and keep them as rental properties for the next generation of Encinitans to enjoy.
For more information on the fundraisers, visit encinitashistoricalsociety.org.
