McCrea, Joel, Ranch

This 220-acre former cattle ranch lies at the northern edge of Thousand Oaks, in a narrow valley at the eastern end of the Santa Rosa Valley. Working buildings sit near Moorpark Road, while a private road leads to the main house and maid's residence set against the hillside. Joel McCrea, a Hollywood star whose career spanned more than forty years and over eighty films, bought the property in 1933 and made it his primary residence until his death in 1990. He built the ranch house for his bride, Frances Dee, along with two barns, a shop, a milk house, corrals and a pool. The oldest building is a bunkhouse from about 1890, built by Belgian settler August Dumortier. Architect John Byers, known for adobe and Spanish Colonial Revival work, designed the main house in the informal California Ranch style. The ranch also survives as a rare example of the cattle ranching that once dominated the Conejo Valley before suburban growth.