{"nrhp_refnum":"86002619","name":"Santa Paula Hardware Company Block-Union Oil Company","other_names":["Union Oil Company Building","California Oil Museum"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1003 E. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Santa Paula","county":"Ventura County","state":"CA","lat":34.35424473000006,"lon":-119.05982335899995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-08-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Economics","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A combination one- and two-story brick and stone commercial building at 1003 E. Main Street, Santa Paula, Ventura County, California, built 1889-1890 as the Santa Paula Hardware Company Block and later known as the Union Oil Company Building.","why_significant":"It is the birthplace of the Union Oil Company, which was formed in its second-floor offices on October 17, 1890. It is also described as the only commercial Queen Anne style structure in Ventura County surviving from the 1890s with its integrity intact. Key oil figures Lyman Stewart, Wallace Hardison and Thomas Bard were involved in its construction.","narrative":"Standing on the corner of Main and Tenth Streets in Santa Paula, this brick and stone commercial building combines one- and two-story sections and is topped by a five-sided cantilevered corner tower with a bell-cast roof. Four slanted bay windows, carved sandstone details, a cast iron ground-floor front and round and segmented arches give it a Queen Anne character with Italianate touches. Completed in 1890 at a cost of about $32,000, it first held a hardware store, a post office and the offices of several oil companies. On October 17, 1890, the Hardison and Stewart, Sespe and Torrey Canon oil companies joined to form the Union Oil Company, and the incorporation papers were signed upstairs. Inside, ten fireplaces each have a different mantle and tile design. Union Oil moved its headquarters to Los Angeles in 1900 but kept the building as a field office, and opened the California Oil Museum on the first floor in 1950.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Queen Anne, with Italianate influences","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in excellent condition; houses the California Oil Museum and the Ventura Area Production Office, with some minor alterations.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:28.239815-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/86002619.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86002619/76c7b1a0d2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86002619/76c7b1a0d2-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Konrad Summers from Santa Clarita (Valencia) , California, USA","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Union_Oil_Company_Building.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Konrad Summers from Santa Clarita (Valencia) , California, USA</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Union_Oil_Company_Building.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123862365","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Oil_Company_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7885880"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/ventura-county/santa-paula-hardware-company-block-union-oil-company-86002619/"}