In 1997, artist and preservationist Karen Groebli walked into a boarded-up, condemned Victorian mansion in San Diego’s Bankers Hill neighborhood and saw potential where others saw only ruin. As she later told Homes.com, the plaster was hanging from the walls, original gas lines dangled from the ceiling, broken windows littered the floors and the interior was filled with trash. She bought the 1888 Broderick–Kenny House for $188,500 and spent the next eight years meticulously restoring it, filling the home with more than 30 chandeliers, a hidden speakeasy, and kitchen columns salvaged from the set of James Cameron’s Titanic, according to reporting by Hoodline and local real estate coverage. Now listed for $4.5 million, the house blends historic landmark status with cinematic flair and modern luxury, standing as one of the most unusual entries in San Diego’s current historic home market.From condemned shell to historic landmarkThe Broderick–Kenny House at 2133 2nd Ave. was built during San Diego’s late-19th-century real estate boom and once housed the city’s first music school. It even featured one of the city’s earliest residential water-pressure elevators, which Groebli later restored and reimagined using an antique cab and scissor gates.By the time Groebli found it in 1997, however, the house had been declared condemned, repeatedly vandalised and stripped of nearly all its interior character. “Whatever could have possibly been nice in that house had literally just been torn from the walls,” Groebli told Homes.com. “The plaster was just hanging; it was all over the floor. The original gas lines in the ceiling were bent and hanging out. The windows were broken. It was filled with trash.”Despite the damage, she felt an immediate connection, shaped in part by childhood visits to a modest Victorian her great-grandfather built by hand in Northern California in 1903. “It was just an immediate attraction,” she said. “We needed each other.”The house already carried formal protection: the City of San Diego Historical Resources Board designated it as San Diego Historic Landmark #136 on May 4, 1979, roughly two decades before Groebli’s restoration began.
Photo: compass.com
An eight-year labour of loveGroebli’s first task was to undo decades of ill-advised alterations: drop ceilings with acoustic tiles, cheap partition walls, missing molding and other “horrible things that people had added on over the years,” she told Homes.com. Once those were removed, she worked to recreate the home’s original floor plan, respecting its unusually large, bold Victorian layout.“This Victorian is different than others in that it has a lot of rooms, and they’re on a larger scale,” Groebli explained. “A lot of Victorians are more filled with secret passages and tiny doors, but this house was bigger and bolder in its design from the beginning, so I wanted to stick with that. I wanted it to have a more eclectic feel.”Over eight years, she lived and breathed the restoration, hand-sourcing era-specific furniture and decor with a clear plan for each room. “I basically would haunt all the local salvage and antique stores,” she said, as per the report. “I had a notebook where I kept a reference of everything. If I bought a chandelier, I’d note that it was going in bedroom two, and then I’d know I still needed one for bedroom four.”Titanic columns and a Wyatt Earp-linked speakeasyThat method led to some of the home’s most talked-about features. Four decorative columns in the kitchen were salvaged from the set of Titanic, where they were built as exact replicas of the ocean liner’s actual first-class dining room columns. Groebli learned about them through her car mechanic, whose wife was an extra in the film and knew someone selling set pieces.“The minute I saw those four columns, I just imagined them in the kitchen, and they turned out really cool,” she said. Because the columns had been underwater with the set, they required extensive restoration and “tons of sanding,” but they now stand as a centrepiece of the kitchen.Another standout is the hidden speakeasy, tucked behind antique stained-glass French doors that once hung inside the Tivoli Bar and Grill, a Gaslamp Quarter establishment founded in 1885 and famously frequented by frontier lawman Wyatt Earp. Those original entry doors now lead into the home’s private bar, adding a layer of Wild West history to the Victorian bones.Modern luxury layered onto 1888 bonesThe restored Broderick–Kenny House spans 4,500 square feet with four bedrooms and five bathrooms, blending its 1888 structure with modern updates throughout. Groebli added a custom freestanding steel spiral staircase and converted the entire third floor into a primary suite with private observation decks overlooking San Diego Bay, the downtown skyline and the Coronado Bridge.The home includes more than 30 chandeliers, custom sconces, multiple decks and panoramic skyline views, according to local coverage. Compass agent Lindsay Dunlap, who holds the listing, told Fox 5 San Diego and KUSI News that buyers can purchase the home furnished or bundled with an adjacent three-unit building.A $4.5 million outlier in Bankers HillAt $4.5 million, the Broderick–Kenny House sits well above typical Bankers Hill home values. Single-family homes in the neighborhood posted a year-to-date median sale price of $1,751,069 in early 2026, according to San Diego Association of REALTORS market statistics, making the listing a significant outlier even in a neighborhood known for its historic housing stock.It isn’t the only high-end historic property on the block, though. A neighbouring eight-bedroom estate at 2115 2nd Avenue was listed for $6.5 million in August, pointing to a growing cluster of multimillion-dollar historic homes along the 2nd Avenue corridor.Dunlap described the current San Diego market as “quirky,” with buyers more cautious and specific about what they want. “We’re looking for someone who’s looking for a collector’s item — a house collector of sorts,” she told Homes.com. “This isn’t your average family home. It certainly could be, but I think we’re looking for someone who appreciates the restoration and preservation.”Victorians are relatively rare in San Diego, with only about two selling in a typical year, and even fewer in urban neighborhoods like Bankers Hill. “That’s what makes it so special,” Dunlap said.A financial perk for the next ownerThe home’s historic designation also comes with a practical benefit. The property benefits from California’s Mills Act historic preservation program, which offers local tax reductions ranging from 20% to 70% in exchange for maintaining the home’s historic architectural integrity, according to Save Our Heritage Organisation. The Mills Act tax contract automatically transfers to new buyers, meaning whoever closes on the Broderick–Kenny House inherits the savings along with the address.A preservationist’s next chapterFor Groebli, the sale marks the end of a nearly three-decade chapter that began with a condemned shell and a vision. She bought the house for $188,500 in 1997, invested eight years of intensive restoration, and lived in the home while continuing to refine its details. Now she is moving on to her next project, leaving behind a one-of-a-kind Victorian that blends San Diego history, Hollywood memorabilia and her own eclectic design sensibility.For the right buyer, the Broderick–Kenny House offers more than square footage and views; it offers a story—of decay and rebirth, of salvage and cinema, and of one woman’s determination to bring a forgotten mansion back to life.
