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RANCHO CAMULOS

A WALKING TOUR

NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK

STATE HISTORIC LANDMARK
VENTURA COUNTY LANDMARK

Photo: Bancroft Library

[1] Ygnacio del Valle Adobe

The 10,000 square foot u-shaped adobe,
with its two-foot thick walls and long
corredores is an outstanding and rare ex-
ample of the rural domestic vernacular
style of Spanish-Mexican Colonial architec-
ture.
The original L-shaped four room section
built in 1853, evolved into a one-story u-
shaped plan organized around a central
courtyard by 1880 to accommodate the
growing Del Valle family. The corredor and
courtyard serve as the central organizing
elements and circulation between rooms is
minimized in the traditionally hispanic
fashion.

The main adobe was the first building con-
structed when Ygnacio del Valle established
the ranch in 1853. Living in Los Angeles,
Del Valle's foreman managed the ranch
until the Del Valle family moved to the
ranch in 1861, after the birth of their fifth
child. Between 1862 and 1870 seven more
children were born at Camulos with only
six of the twelve living until adulthood.
[2] Chapel
Built circa 1867, the chapel features an un-
usual barrel vaulted wood ceiling under the
long gabled porch whose gable end dis-
plays a Gothic gingerbread semi-circular
verge-board. A decorative stained glass
window features a heart surrounded by