Joel McCrea Ranch
Joel McCrea Ranch | |
Location | 4500 N. Moorpark Rd., Thousand Oaks, California |
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Coordinates | 34°14′39″N 118°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
Listed on the
History
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] The Conejo Recreation and Park District took ownership of the ranch in 2004.[5]
See also
References
- ^ a b c "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ a b c Flans, Robyn (February 7, 2018). "McCrea family's Hollywood legacy lives on at Conejo ranch". Ventura County Star. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
- ^ Judith P. Triem and Mitch Stone (October 25, 1996). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Joel McCrea Ranch / August DuMortier Ranch". National Park Service. and accompanying 20 photos
- ^ Olsen, Gerald E. "Gerry" (September 18, 2010). "Norwegian Grade, built by hand, is turning 100". Ventura County Star.
- ^ https://www.mccrearanchfoundation.org/
External links