Villa Montezuma Museum: Jesse Shepard's 1887 Mansion & Tours

Villa Montezuma is an 1887 Queen Anne mansion in San Diego’s Sherman Heights neighborhood. It was built for the pianist and spiritualist Jesse Shepard and is now a city-owned house museum. In 2026 it is open for guided tours on Saturdays and Sundays at 1:00 and 2:15 p.m. Tours cost $15 for adults, cash only, and you book by text.

What Villa Montezuma is

The house stands at 1925 K Street, on the corner of 20th and K, in the Sherman Heights Historic District just east of downtown. It was designed by the firm Comstock & Trotsche and finished in 1887 in a lavish mix of Queen Anne, Gothic and exotic revival styles. It has a corner tower, layered shingles and carved trim outside. Inside are walnut-paneled walls, Douglas fir floors, embossed Lincrusta-Walton ceilings and a music room built for concerts and séances.

The best-known features are the specially commissioned stained-glass windows, including portraits of Mozart and Beethoven above the music room. The house draws architecture and stained-glass fans as well as people drawn by its strange story.

The City of San Diego has owned the villa since 1971, the same year it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Today it is run by the volunteer Friends of Villa Montezuma (FOVM).

Jesse Shepard: the man the house was built for

Benjamin Henry Jesse Francis Shepard was born in Birkenhead, England, in 1848. He performed as a pianist and composer and claimed that much of his music was channeled from the spirits of famous composers. That made him a celebrity in the spiritualist circles of the time.

In the 1880s, San Diego was in the middle of a real estate boom. Developers who shared his spiritualist interests offered to build Shepard a mansion to his own specifications. The idea was that his fame would help sell lots in the new neighborhood. The result was Villa Montezuma, where he hosted concerts, conversation evenings and séances.

He did not stay long. Shepard lived in the house for only about a year. When the boom collapsed, he sold it in late 1889 and left for Paris. There he reinvented himself as a writer under the pen name Francis Grierson, publishing essays and books into the early 1900s. He died in Los Angeles on May 29, 1927, reportedly just after playing the last chord of a piano performance for dinner guests, and in poverty.

The tours tell this story in the rooms where it happened. For anyone who came looking for Jesse Shepard first, that is the main reason to go.

A house with a long history of closures

If you remember Villa Montezuma as “always closed,” you are not wrong. Its timeline, based on reporting in the San Diego Reader and other sources:

• 1942: The house became a rooming house for World War II defense workers.
• 1968: Preservationists bought it to save it from demolition, with help from Save Our Heritage Organisation and San Diego Historical Society members.
• 1971: The city took ownership, and the house was listed on the National Register.
• 1972: It opened as a partially restored museum.
• 1986: An accidental fire destroyed more than half the roof. The museum reopened in 1987, in time for the house’s centennial.
• 2006: The Historical Society closed it amid funding shortfalls and foundation safety concerns. It stayed shut for years.
• 2015 to 2020: After an $880,000 federal block grant paid for roof, foundation and chimney repairs, the house opened only a few days a year for free tours.
• March 2020: The pandemic closed it again.
• October 2021: The Friends of Villa Montezuma reopened it for regular paid tours, which continue in 2026.

Restoration is still going on. In 2026 the exterior has scaffolding and a construction fence, and the rooftop gargoyles have been taken down. Do not expect a picture-perfect facade for photos right now. The interior is the main event anyway.

Tours, tickets and booking in 2026

All details below come from the Friends of Villa Montezuma site. Check it before you go, because a volunteer-run museum can change its schedule at short notice.

Tour times: Saturday and Sunday at 1:00 and 2:15 p.m. Friday public tours are paused during restoration. School groups and large prearranged groups can ask about Friday mornings or a 3:30 p.m. slot.

How to book: Text 619-233-8833 to reserve your time slot. There is no online ticketing.

Ticket	Price
Adults	$15
Seniors 65+, active-duty military, students with ID	$12
Children 12 and under (with paying adult)	Free
Groups of 8+ adults	$10 each
School groups	Contact the museum

Cash only. The museum does not take cards or other payment, and asks that you not bring bills larger than $20.

House rules

• No photography, video or recording inside, and no phone apps during the tour.
• No food or drink.
• Large bags and strollers stay in the front lobby.
• The grounds are closed outside tour times, so do not wander the garden or porches on your own.
• There is no air conditioning. Late-summer afternoon tours can be warm, so dress for it.

If anyone in your group has limited mobility, text the museum ahead of time to ask which parts of the house the tour covers and how they are reached.

Special events

The villa leans into its Victorian and spiritualist past with seasonal events. In October 2026 these included a Spiritualism & Lantern Light evening tour, PoeFest performances on several weekends, a Victorian-themed walk at Mount Hope Cemetery and an opera-themed murder mystery salon. A free Poetry at the Villa reading is scheduled for November 8, 2026, from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. (RSVP by text). Halloween season is the busiest time, so book early if you want an evening event next year.

Weddings are not being booked until the restoration is finished.

Getting there and parking

Sherman Heights is a residential neighborhood a short drive east of downtown, and street parking near the villa is free during the day. The museum flags one trap: under a 2025 California law, you cannot park within 20 feet of a crosswalk or stop sign. San Diego police have been ticketing this since March 1, 2025, at $117 a ticket. Near 20th and K, look for the curb painted red in the “first spot” by the corner and leave it empty.

Rideshare drop-off at the corner of 20th and K is the simplest option if you are staying downtown.

Who it suits and what to pair it with

Villa Montezuma suits visitors who like historic houses, Victorian design, stained glass or a slightly eerie backstory. It is not a hands-on museum, so younger kids may get restless on a guided tour, while older children who enjoy ghost-story history often love it.

For more of early San Diego in a single afternoon, combine it with the historic adobes and museums of Old Town and the site of the city’s first mission and fort at Presidio Park. If you are staying downtown, the waterfront shops and restaurants at Seaport Village are a short drive away for dinner after a 2:15 p.m. tour.