Joel McCrea Ranch | |
![]() Two unidentified lesser buildings, perhaps non-contributing ones | |
Location | 4500 N. Moorpark Rd., Thousand Oaks, California |
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Coordinates | 34°14′39″N118°51′10″W / 34.24417°N 118.85278°W Coordinates: 34°14′39″N118°51′10″W / 34.24417°N 118.85278°W |
Area | 220 acres (89 ha) |
Built | 1933 |
Built by | Winget, Glenn O. |
Architect | Byers, John |
Architectural style | ranch style |
NRHP reference No. | 97000295 [1] |
Added to NRHP | April 18, 1997 |
The Joel McCrea Ranch in Thousand Oaks, California is also known as the August DuMortier Ranch. The ranch is rare surviving example of the large cattle ranches and fields of grain which once dotted the Santa Rosa and Conejo valleys in eastern Ventura County. [2]
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997, the site includes eight contributing buildings and four contributing structures on over 220 acres (89 ha). [1] One surviving building dates from 1890 from August DuMortier's ranch; the main house, an avocado-shaped pool, and a cabana/poolhouse were built in 1933; a maid's residence and various other contributing and non-contributing buildings date from later.
The ranch is historically significant for its association with actor Joel McCrea, a major star in the movie industry. [2] The main house and some other buildings are also significant works of architect John Byers; according to the NRHP nomination:
Byers was a prominent regional architect, best known for his adobe and Spanish Colonial Revival designs. The Joel McCrea ranch house is a rare and very successful departure from Byers' usual period revivalism into the realm of the informal California Ranch style, just emerging in Southern California. [3]
The ranch is at the bottom of the Norwegian Grade, a road built by settlers around 1900. [4] The Norwegian Colony, at the north end of the Conejo Valley, needed a safe route to transport bales of hay and sacks of wheat and barley to the Oxnard Plain. This road allowed grain bound for San Francisco and England pass down the Santa Rosa Valley to the Hueneme Wharf. [1]
The McCreas donated several hundred acres of the ranch to the newly formed Conejo Valley YMCA for the city of Thousand Oaks, California, both of which celebrated their 40th anniversaries in 2004. [2]
Ventura County is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 823,318. The largest city is Oxnard, and the county seat is the city of Ventura.
Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, United States. It is in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles, approximately 40 miles (64 km) from Downtown Los Angeles, and is less than 15 miles (24 km) from the Los Angeles neighborhood of Woodland Hills. It is named after the many oak trees present in the area.
Westlake Village is a city in Los Angeles County on its western border with Ventura County. The City of Westlake Village incorporated in 1981 becoming the 82nd municipality of Los Angeles County. The population of the city was estimated to be at 8,217 in 2019, down from 8,270 at the 2010 census.
Frances Marion Dee was an American actress. Her first film was the musical Playboy of Paris (1930). She starred in the film An American Tragedy (1931). She is also known for starring in the 1943 Val Lewton psychological horror film I Walked With a Zombie.
Joel Albert McCrea was an American actor whose career spanned almost five decades, appearing in more than one hundred films. These films include Alfred Hitchcock's espionage thriller Foreign Correspondent (1940), Preston Sturges' comedy classics Sullivan's Travels (1941), and The Palm Beach Story (1942), the romance film Bird of Paradise (1932), the adventure classic The Most Dangerous Game (1932), Gregory La Cava's bawdy comedy Bed of Roses (1933), George Stevens' romantic comedy The More the Merrier (1943), William Wyler's These Three, Come and Get It and Dead End (1937), Howard Hawks' Barbary Coast (1935), and a number of western films, including Wichita (1955) as Wyatt Earp and Sam Peckinpah's Ride the High Country (1962), opposite Randolph Scott.
The Conejo Valley is a region spanning both southeastern Ventura County and northwestern Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States. It is located in the northwestern part of the Greater Los Angeles Area.
Newbury Park is a populated place and town in Ventura County, California, United States. Most of it lies within the western Thousand Oaks city limits while other parts of Newbury Park such as Casa Conejo and Ventu Park remain in unincorporated areas. It makes up all of ZIP code 91320, and is within area code 805. Lying within the Conejo Valley in the northwestern part of the Greater Los Angeles Area, Newbury Park abuts the Santa Monica Mountains. It is approximately 35 miles (56 km) from Downtown Los Angeles and less than 7 mi (11 km) from the Los Angeles County border in Westlake Village. The closest coastal city is Malibu, 22 mi (35 km) from Newbury Park, which may be reached through winding roads or hiking trails crossing the Santa Monica Mountains. About 28,000 residents of Thousand Oaks reside in Newbury Park. Newbury Park makes up around 40 percent of Thousand Oaks' total land area.
The Stagecoach Inn Museum in Newbury Park, California, originally known as the Grand Union Hotel, was used as a resting area for people who traveled from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara. Besides a hotel and stagecoach stop, it has also been used as a post office, church, restaurant and military school. It is California Historical Landmark no. 659 and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It played a major role in the development of the stage line transportation network in California. The hotel was also the first business venture in the Conejo Valley.
The Conejo Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) is a school district in Ventura County, California. The district serves the Conejo Valley area, including the city of Thousand Oaks, the adjacent community of Newbury Park, and the Ventura County portion of Westlake Village.
The Oaks is a two-level indoor/outdoor, regional shopping mall located in Thousand Oaks, California. It is owned and managed by Macerich. Accessible from US Highway 101 midway between downtown Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, it is the largest shopping center in Ventura County. Over five million visit the mall each year.
Santa Rosa Valley is a rural unincorporated community, named after the eponymous valley in which it lies, located in Ventura County, California, United States. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined Santa Rosa Valley as a census-designated place (CDP). The census definition of the area may not precisely correspond to local understanding of the area with the same name. The 2010 United States census reported Santa Rosa Valley's population was 3,334. Santa Rosa Valley sits at an elevation of 433 feet (132 m).
The Norwegian Grade is a 2 miles (3.2 km) section of Moorpark Road from the Santa Rosa Valley up into the Simi Hills and the city of Thousand Oaks, within Ventura County, California. Completed in 1911, it may be one of the Norwegian Colony's most notable contributions to the city. Until the construction of California State Route 23 Freeway, this was the most direct route between Moorpark and Thousand Oaks.
The George Washington Faulkner House, known also as Faulkner House and as Faulkner Farm, in Santa Paula, California, was built in 1894. The Queen Anne style house was a work of architect/builders Herman Anlauf and Franklin P. Ward.
Wildwood Regional Park is a suburban regional park in the western Simi Hills and Conejo Valley, in Ventura County, California. It is located in western Thousand Oaks, northern Newbury Park, and southern Moorpark.
Mount Clef Ridge is a 1,076 ft volcanic mountain in Thousand Oaks, California. It is a volcanic outcrop that resulted from lava eruptions 30 million years ago. The ridge was formerly under ownership by the Janss Corporation, but was acquired by the Conejo Recreation and Park District (CRPD) in 1967. Trails here are available from Santa Rosa Valley, Newbury Park and Wildwood Regional Park. Although being a major feature of Wildwood, it occupies its own open-space area bordering Wildwood's northern boundaries. Mount Clef Ridge Open Space Area occupies 212 acres. From the ridge are great panoramic views of Santa Rosa Valley, Conejo Valley, Hill Canyon, as well as the Santa Susana-, Santa Monica- and Topatopa Mountains. The open-space area is home to plants such as coastal sage scrub, chaparral, Lyon's pentachaeta and Conejo dudleya. The fauna includes mountain lions, deer, coyotes, gray foxes, and more.
Norwegian Colony was a Norwegian community in Thousand Oaks, California in the 1890s and early 20th century. They were among the first pioneers to settle in Conejo Valley, and the Norwegian Colony was perhaps the most successful colony in Ventura County at the time. The group of Norwegians escaped Norway due to lack of land and widespread starvation, and first settled in Santa Barbara in 1885. After being told about the cheap land in Conejo Valley, they relocated to what became the Norwegian Colony in 1890-91. It was made up of five families: the Olsen, Andersen (Anderson), Pedersen (Pederson), Nilsen and Hansen families.
Dos Vientos is a neighborhood in westernmost Newbury Park, California, which borders Dos Vientos Open Space and the Santa Monica Mountains. It was a 2,350-unit housing development which was approved by the Thousand Oaks City Council in April 1988. It is an upscale and master-planned community. Major development found place after infrastructure was built to support the homes in 1998. It was the largest residential project ever within Newbury Park. It has a maximum elevation of 2,500 feet.
Conejo Recreation and Park District (CRPD) is the park management agency for most of the parks in the Conejo Valley, California. Established in 1962, CRPD later established Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency (COSCA) in 1977 through a joint effort with the City of Thousand Oaks. COSCA administers over 15,000 acres of open space and 140 miles of trails, while CRPD administers over 50 community parks. CRPD's annual operating budget is $20,000,000, of which about 70% are from property taxes.
The Timber School was the first school in Newbury Park, California when established in 1889. and the current 1924 reconstructed Timber School is the oldest remaining school in the City of Thousand Oaks. It is also the oldest remaining public building in the Conejo Valley.
Pederson House and Water Tower is located at the campus of California Lutheran University (CLU) in Thousand Oaks, California, the former home of the Norwegian Colony. It was built by members of the Colony that settled here in 1890. The structure is designated Ventura County Historic Landmark No. 45 and Thousand Oaks Historical Landmark No. 3. It is a typical turn-of-the-century farmhouse constructed in 1913-14 for Lars and Karn Pederson, Norwegian immigrants and members of the Norwegian Colony, who had first settled in Conejo Valley in 1890. The house was erected at the present location of Ahmanson Science Center, but was later relocated 500 feet (150 m) to its current location at the corner of Regent Avenue and Faculty Street. When its original location was determined to become a science building, the university was quoted $125,000 in moving costs, and therefore planned to demolish the house. However, CLU alumni were able to raise the amount in one day and were successful in saving the house.