Harry Carey Ranch Survey:
Adobe Stables.
By JRP HISTORCIAL CONSULTING SERVICES, for the National Parks Service.
2001.

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HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY

HARRY CAREY RANCH
Adobe Stables (Building 1)
HABS No. CA-2712-C

Location:
28515 San Francisquito Canyon Road, Saugus, Los Angeles County, California.
UTM Coordinates: 11.3057135.3815596

Significance:

This building is a contributing element of the Harry Carey Ranch Historic District. The district is associated with the historically significant life and work of the film star Harry Carey Sr., as described in the accompanying narrative report.

Description:

This stable (Building 1) is an adobe building located west of the Wood Stables (Building 8) in the northern portion of the main ranch complex. Rectangular in plan, the narrow (14' x 31'-9") building rests on a raised concrete perimeter foundation. The building is located on a slight grade that slopes down to the east. A single course of handmade adobe bricks (about 1'-6" x 3-½" x 10" each) with mud mortar forms the stable walls, which are covered in a whitewash finish. The wood-frame, side-gable roof has narrow eaves with exposed rafters and wood fascia on the gable ends. Deteriorated composition sheet roofing tops the roof of the building. The interior space is divided by a single-course adobe wall into two, unevenly sized rooms (the westernmost and smaller room measuring approximately 11'-6" wide), each with dirt floors. Two diagonal-plank Dutch doors set in the north side of the building give access to each room. A third, diagonal-plank hinged door is located in the east gable end, flanked by an unglazed wood-framed window opening. A similar window opening, covered at the interior by a plywood panel, is located in the west gable end. The only other openings in the building are two small, metal-louvered vents set into the peak of each gable end; the south wall has no openings. A thin layer of concrete has been troweled onto the interior walls from the foundation to about three feet up the wall. In addition, portions of the interior walls have been whitewashed.

History:

According to property records the estimated date of construction for this building is 1920, although there is no known record of its exact completion date. Tax records from 1925 recorded a 14'-0" x 32'-0" poultry building constructed of adobe. This corresponds with Harry Carey Jr.'s recollection that this building was originally a chicken coop that his father converted into a stable for his sister's horse in the 1930s.¹

Sources:

    Harry Carey, Jr., January 26, 2001. Durango, CO. Telephone interview by Meta Bunse, JRP Historical Consulting Services. Davis, CA.

    Leslie Heumann and Helen Wells. "Historic Resources Inventory: Harry Carey Ranch Historic District." DPR523 forms on file with California Office of Historic Places. July 6, 1993. Real Property Records, County of Los Angeles Office of the Assessor, December 2000.

Project Information:

The Los Angeles District Army Corps of Engineers, in consideration of a Section 404 Clean Water Act permit for the Tesoro Del Valle Project in Los Angeles County, California, found that the Tesoro del Valle Project, would have an effect on the Harry Carey Ranch Historic District, a property eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. With this finding of effect, the Corps, pursuant to 36 CFR Part 800, regulations implementing Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470f), has entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the California State Historic Preservation Officer (in concurrence with Montalvo Properties, LLC) regarding the historic Harry Carey Ranch property. In compliance with the MOA, the Adobe Stables (Building 1) will be stabilized, moved within the historic district and used as a static display.

Historian:

Meta Bunse, JRP Historical Consulting Services, 2001.

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NOTES.

1. Harry Carey, Jr., interview, January 26. 2001.

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