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Walking Tour of the Historic Rancho Santa Fe Village
Item 13 of 16

This building was designed by Lilian Rice in a residential style to blend into the neighborhood of Rancho Santa Fe. A buttressed mule barn housed the equipment within and the recent careful restoration uncovered the original blue-green trim paint color, which was replicated in the remodel. Today, it remains the Irrigation District office.


Sky, Building, Plant, Property

Plant, Sky, Building, Window

In 1925, this building and its complex were designed by Lilian Rice as the headquarters for the Rancho Santa Fe Irrigation District Office. In line with the original master plan of the community, the style of the building strayed away from an office look and rather was built and designed to look like a residential house to cohesively combine into the rest of the community, which all had a unifying style no matter its purpose (commercial or residential). 

Wilfred Ott Boetigger was the superintendent of the irrigation district during this time. Boetigger and his family lived in the complex of buildings right next to the office itself, also designed by Lilian Rice in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, and in line with the master plan, the office and the complex of homes looked very similar.

Recently, a restoration uncovered the original blue-green trim paint color and today, it remains the Irrigation District Office.

Diane Y. Welch, The Life and Times of Lilian J. Rice, Master Architect. (Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., 2015), 91-93.

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Archives of Rancho Santa Fe

Archives of Rancho Santa Fe