Crank House, also known as Fair Oaks Ranch, is an 1883 Victorian style residence in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the List of United States counties and county equivalents, most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 202 ...

. The house was placed 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 for its association with the early settlement of Pasadena. ''(site #97000751)''. The house has notably featured in films such as ''

Hocus Pocus Hocus-pocus is an exclamation used by magicians, usually the magic words spoken when bringing about some sort of change. Hocus Pocus, Hokus Pokus, or variants may also refer to: Books * Hocus Pocus (novel), ''Hocus Pocus'' (novel), a 1990 novel ...

'' (Allison's house interior shots), ''

Matilda Matilda or Mathilda may refer to: Animals * Matilda (chicken) (1990–2006), World's Oldest Living Chicken record holder * Mathilda (gastropod), ''Mathilda'' (gastropod), a genus of gastropods in the family Mathildidae * Matilda (horse) (1824–1 ...

'' (Trunchbull's house), ''

Scream 2 ''Scream 2'' is a 1997 American slasher film directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson. It stars David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jamie Kennedy, Laurie Metcalf, Jerry O'Connell, Jada P ...

'' (Omega Beta Zeta sorority house) and ''

Catch Me If You Can ''Catch Me If You Can'' is a 2002 American crime comedy-drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks with Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams, and James Brolin in ...

'' (Roger Strong's house).

History

Eliza Griffin Johnston

The Crank House sits on land, the Fair Oaks Ranch, once owned by Eliza Griffin Johnston, the widow of Confederate General

Albert Sidney Johnston General officer, General Albert Sidney Johnston (February 2, 1803 – April 6, 1862) was an American military officer who served as a general officer in three different armies: the Texian Army, the United States Army, and the Confederate States ...

. Following the death of her husband at the

Battle of Shiloh The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the American Civil War fought on April 6–7, 1862. The fighting took place in southwestern Tennessee, which was part of the war's Western Theater of the ...

in April 1862, Eliza and her children came to

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

at the urging of her brother, John S. Griffin. Griffin had large land holdings in the Los Angeles area and was a business partner of

Benjamin D. Wilson Benjamin Davis Wilson (December 1, 1811 – March 11, 1878), commonly known as Don Benito Wilson,Excerpt: ''"Wilson, now known as Don Benito, became a Californio – that group of Mexicans and Angols who thought of themselves as Californians rathe ...

Rancho San Pascual Rancho San Pascual, also known as Rancho el Rincón de San Pascual, was a Mexican land grant in present-day Los Angeles County, California, given to Juan Marine in 1834 by Mexican Governor José Figueroa. The former Rancho San Pascual land inclu ...

. Wilson was a local land speculator, politician, and also the maternal grandfather of General

George S. Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (11 November 1885 – 21 December 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, then the Third Army in France and Germany after the Alli ...

. Griffin sold Eliza Griffin Johnston the property for $1,000. Eliza Griffin Johnston named her ranch "Fair Oaks", after her native city in Virginia and also for the stands of

Coast live oak ''Quercus agrifolia'', the California live oak, or coast live oak, is an evergreen live oak native to the California Floristic Province. Live oaks are so-called because they keep living leaves on the tree all year, adding young leaves and sheddi ...

s—''Quercus agrifloia'' in the area. When Eliza's son, Albert II, was killed in a steamship boiler explosion at

Wilmington, California Wilmington is a neighborhood in the South Bay and Harbor region of Los Angeles, California, covering . Featuring a heavy concentration of industry and the third-largest oil field in the continental United States, this neighborhood has a high p ...

in 1864, she left California and returned to Virginia. The ranch was taken over by Benjamin Eaton, father of

Frederick Eaton Frederick Eaton (1856 – March 11, 1934) was a major individual in the transformation and expansion of Los Angeles in the latter 19th century through early 20th century, in California. Eaton was the political mastermind behind the early 20th ...

. Benjamin Eaton subdivided the ranch. The southern portion was bought by the Ellises.

James F. Crank

The northern portion was bought by James F. Crank in 1877. Crank came from New York and was impressed with the land, and soon planted

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. ''Citrus'' is nativ ...

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

s and

vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

s. Eliza Johnston's simple wood-frame house was moved to another location on the property, and still stands at 2072 Oakwood Street, Altadena. Crank built a much larger, more palatial home in 1882. The house is a -story

wood-frame Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs. If the struc ...

Victorian

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word ''manse'' originally defined a property l ...

. In 1883, Crank invested in the

Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad The Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad was a railroad founded on September 5, 1883, by James F. Crank with the goal of bringing a rail line to Pasadena, California from downtown Los Angeles, the line opened in 1886. Los Angeles and San G ...

, becoming its president. The rail line ran from Pasadena to downtown Los Angeles. Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad was sold and consolidated on May 20, 1887, into the

California Central Railway The California Central Railway was incorporated on April 23, 1887, with headquarters in San Bernardino, California. George O. Manchester was the President of the corporation. At its peak it operated of rail line with 14 steam locomotives, 14 ...

. In 1889, this was consolidated into

Southern California Railway Southern California Railway was formed on November 7, 1889. It was formed by consolidation of California Southern Railroad Company, the California Central Railway Company, and the Redondo Beach Railway Company. A second consolidation and reformi ...

Company. On January 17, 1906, Southern California Railway was sold to the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at vario ...

and called the

Pasadena Subdivision The Pasadena Subdivision is the remnant branch line of the former Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) Los Angeles Second District. The line currently branches off of Metrolink’s San Bernardino Line at CP Cambridge in Claremont. The lin ...

. Even so, Crank suffered financially, and sold the ranch. It was subdivided in 1910. He donated land for the

Raymond Hotel The Raymond Hotel was a hotel in South Pasadena, California, and first major resort hotel of the San Gabriel Valley. Largely a winter residence for wealthy Easterners, it was built by Mr. Walter Raymond of Raymond & Whitcomb Travel Agency of B ...

in Pasadena, that had his Pasadena rail station. When Mr. Crank and his family first came to California, they stayed at the Sierra Madre Villa Hotel.eastofallen, James F. Crank and the Sierra Madre Villa
/ref>

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in California Houses in Altadena, California Victorian architecture in California History of Los Angeles County, California Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in California San Gabriel Valley Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California 1882 establishments in California Houses completed in 1882