The Joel McCrea Ranch in

Thousand Oaks, California Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, located in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles. Approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown Los Angeles, it is named after the many oak trees pr ...

is also known as the August DuMortier Ranch. The ranch is a rare surviving example of the large cattle ranches and fields of grain which once dotted the

Santa Rosa Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish name for Saint Rose. Santa Rosa may also refer to: Places Argentina *Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city * Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca *Santa Rosa, La Pampa * S ...

and Conejo valleys in eastern

Ventura County Ventura County () is a county located in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, and the county seat is the city of Ventura. Ventura County comprises ...

. Listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1997, the site includes eight

contributing buildings In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic dist ...

and four

contributing structures In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distr ...

on over . 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.

History

The ranch is historically significant for its association with actor

Joel McCrea Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, and Westerns, for which he bec ...

, a major star in the movie industry. 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. and

The ranch is at the bottom of the

Norwegian Grade The Norwegian Grade is a section of Moorpark Road from the Santa Rosa Valley, California, Santa Rosa Valley up into the Simi Hills and the city of Thousand Oaks, California, Thousand Oaks, within Ventura County, California. Completed in 1911, it ma ...

, a road built by settlers around 1900. The

Norwegian Colony 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 the Conejo Valley, and was perhaps the most successful colony in Ventura County, Californi ...

, 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 The Oxnard Plain is a large coastal plain in southwest Ventura County, California, United States surrounded by the mountains of the Transverse Ranges. The cities of Oxnard, Camarillo, Port Hueneme and much of Ventura as well as the unincorpo ...

. This road allowed grain bound for

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

pass down the Santa Rosa Valley to the Hueneme Wharf. The McCreas donated several hundred acres of the ranch to the newly formed Conejo Valley

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

for the city of Thousand Oaks, California, both of which celebrated their 40th anniversaries in 2004. The

Conejo Recreation and Park District Conejo Recreation and Park District (CRPD) is the park management agency for most of the parks in the Conejo Valley, Conejo Valley, California. Established in 1962, CRPD later established Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency (COSCA) in 1977 thro ...

took ownership of the ranch in 2004.https://www.mccrearanchfoundation.org/

References

External links

*
Joel and Frances McCrea Ranch Foundation
Simi Hills Buildings and structures in Thousand Oaks, California Buildings and structures completed in 1933 Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in California National Register of Historic Places in Ventura County, California Ranches on the National Register of Historic Places in California History of Thousand Oaks, California 1933 establishments in California {{VenturaCountyCA-NRHP-stub

History

See also

References

External links