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Building History

W.W. Orcutt (1869-1942), a prominent petroleum geologist, erected this adobe residence on his Rancho Sombra del Roble property. Orcutt became a wealthy man working for the Los Angeles-based Union Oil Company, a firm that revolutionized oil drilling by applying scientific geological principles to locate petroleum deposits. He was an important figure in applying scientific methods to the field. He owned multiple estates in CA, and raised citrus fruits and cattle on this 210-acre parcel, what would become a portion of the Canoga Park Neighborhood of Los Angeles. The ranch became a horticultural center operated by the City of Los Angeles, Department of Recreation and Parks. L.G. Knipe, an architect based in Phoenix, AZ, designed the Orcutt Adobe.

Building Notes

Orcutt was good friends with President Herbert Hoover (1874-1964), with whom he was a classmate at Stanford University. Both had similar professional training, Hoover a mining engineer, Orcutt a petroleum geologist. Interestingly, both Hoover and Orcutt built houses that had "Early California" characteristics, actually an amalgam of Spanish Colonial Revival Style elements and those derived from other sources including Southwest Native American architecture. Both the Hoover and Orcutt Houses displayed austere, geometric, stucco-faced exteriors. (Additionally, the Hoovers may have been influenced in North African architecture while building their house [1919-1920] at Stanford University.) According to the City of Los Angeles, Department of Recreation and Parks web site on the Orcutt House: "In January 22, 1965, the City of Los Angeles designated a 24-acre portion of the estate as Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 31, which included the residence, ranch structures, garden, oaks, and citrus orchard. At that time, Mrs. Orcutt was still residing within the adobe residence. One year later, the City of Los Angeles, Department of Recreation and Parks, acquired the property, preserving the site, the Orcutt home and its gardens for future generations as a public historic monument and park." (See "Orcutt Ranch Horticultural Center Rancho Sombra del Roble," accessed 11/01/2012.)

Tel: 818.346.7449 (2012)