{"id":100143,"date":"2025-12-18T21:03:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T21:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/100143\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T21:03:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T21:03:08","slug":"renovation-plans-proceed-for-historic-munk-house-in-la-jolla-despite-daughters-objections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/100143\/","title":{"rendered":"Renovation plans proceed for historic Munk house in La Jolla despite daughters’ objections"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Walter<\/a>Walter Munk. (File photo by Erik Jepsen\/UC San Diego)<\/p>\n

Plans to remodel a historic, 3,998-square-foot, three-story home in La Jolla Shores once inhabited by the late Scripps oceanographer Dr. Walter Munk<\/a> will proceed \u2014 despite family members\u2019 objections. <\/p>\n

The additions and expansions of Seiche in La Jolla Shores are being required to adhere to historic designation regulations and coastal requirements \u2014 but not to the wishes of the former occupants, according to their daughter, who preferred to avoid a commemoration involving their one-time home.<\/p>\n

The Munks lived there from the home\u2019s construction in 1953 until Judith\u2019s death in 2006 and Walter\u2019s in 2019. <\/p>\n

The home\u2019s name, Seiche, refers to a standing wave oscillating in a body of water. Munk was renowned for his groundbreaking observations of waves, ocean temperature and tidal energy in the deep ocean, ocean acoustics and the rotation of the Earth. His tidal predictions were successfully used on D-Day during the\u00a0Normandy invasion, Allied landings in North Africa and the taking of beaches in the Pacific\u00a0theater.<\/p>\n

The proposed renovation of the Seiche House<\/a> property at 9530 La Jolla Village Dr. was praised by the La Jolla Development Permit Review Committee, which greenlit preliminary plans for the project last month.<\/p>\n

But not everyone is thrilled by Seiche House\u2019s redevelopment.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents were dead-set against historical designation of their home,\u201d said Walter Munk\u2019s daughter, Edie Munk. \u201cMy whole life growing up, my parents made this desire clear, no historical designation for Seiche ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey told this to me and many others, as many asked \u2014 and assumed \u2014 they would want their home historically designated. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey were absolutely against this notion. Dust to dust was their belief system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edie Munk said her father had this directive notarized by his lawyer. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll the pro-historical designation folks who claimed to admire and respect my parents in life certainly turned against them in death,\u201d she said. \u201cThere were many of us who fought hard against this designation, honoring my parents\u2019 wishes. But we were brutally defeated.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Seiche House was sold in January 2022 for $6.25 million, and UC San Diego has made it clear that its link to the property ended then. <\/p>\n

The property, which was designed for Walter Munk by his second wife, Judith, an artist and architectural designer, is perched high above a protected canyon preserve. It features spectacular ocean views from both the house and garden. <\/p>\n

The home is designed to be inclusive, incorporating a number and variety of meeting places. It was meant to be a hub of conversation and creativity as well as a family haven.<\/p>\n

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places<\/a>, the complex features a main house, a guest house, a second-story guest room, a folly amphitheater and thoughtful landscaping. Large expanses of glass, open interior plans, and a clear expression of structure and materials characterize the main house. Vines envelop the mid-century modern structure.<\/p>\n

Outdoors features a swimming pool and sunken garden on the east and a west garden.<\/p>\n

Current renovation plans for Seiche, designed by La Jolla architect Ione Stiegler<\/a>, include a 1,125 square-foot addition to the second floor; conversion of a 565 square-foot, detached guest house to an accessory dwelling unit with an additional 375 square feet and expansion of the basement to 1,103 square feet. <\/p>\n

Planned additions include an attached 628-square-foot, two-car garage, retaining walls, driveway, landscaping, and new utilities.<\/p>\n

Edie Munk, however, has ideas of what she would like to see in the aftermath of Seiche House\u2019s redevelopment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that future homeowners, who clearly request that their homes do not fall under historical designation, will be honored in their wishes, in life as well as in death,\u201d she said. \u201cOnce my parents passed, the magic of Seiche went with them. Seiche no longer exists without them; that era is over.\u201d<\/p>\n

For her, it will be an entirely new home, so she\u2019d like to see a \u201cbrand new name\u201d assigned to it.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Walter Munk. (File photo by Erik Jepsen\/UC San Diego) Plans to remodel a historic, 3,998-square-foot, three-story home in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[54603,930,6953,54604,45125,74,76,75,14725,54605],"class_list":["post-100143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-judith-munk","tag-la-jolla","tag-la-jolla-shores","tag-munk-seiche-house","tag-oceanography","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-ucsd","tag-walter-munk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}