In 1997, a woman bought a condemned 1888 San Diego mansion for $188,500; after an 8-year restoration, it has 30-plus chandeliers, a secret bar, ‘Titanic’ movie-set columns and a $4.5 million asking price
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…