No. 44 - Jennie MacDonald House

644 Second Avenue

The Chula Vista Land and Town Company apparently built this house in 1888 as one of the city's first "orchard homes," and the house is listed as House No. 13 on a 1894 map of Chula Vista. The subdivision map for the Chula Vista Villa Tract was filed by the Land Company on June 4, 1908, and four days later, Jennie MacDonald of Leavenworth, Kansas, purchased the property, including its eight-room house, for $3,000.

Jennie MacDonald and her husband, William, lived in this house for many years, and she was said to have traveled extensively, bringing back many exotic plants. Mr. MacDonald died in the 1930s, and a son, William R. MacDonald, a writer, continued to live in the house for a short time thereafter. In 1911, Jennie built a Craftsman-style bungalow just north of the property (Site No. 41). John and Jean McCall purchased this house in December 1948.

The house is significant as one of the few Victorian homes in Chula Vista and one of only two or three Land and Town Company "orchard homes" still in existence and on its original site.

More information: click here