Rancho Sespe Bunkhouse #2

Rancho Sespe Bunkhouse #2. . , . By 1919 Rancho Sespe had three bachelor quarters: The Japanese "Ranch House" built in 1909, Bunkhouse No. 1 (built in 1911) and Bunk House No. 2 (Built in 1919). , . The "Ranch House" was some distance away from the main headquarters complex, and thus had its own eating and bathing facilities. , . Bunk House No. 1, designed by Greene and Greene of Pasadena, was the second of three structures to be built. It contained the kitchen, dining and assembly rooms used by employees of both No. 1 and No. 2. , . The Museum's Bunk House - Bunkhouse No. 2 - is a smaller modified version of No. 1 and interestingly has all the earmarks of a world war one army barracks. Probably built by the Peyton Brothers, it was finished in late 1919. The building appears to be an all (except for the studs) redwood structure. The carpenter work of the interior was painstakingly precise. It had fourteen employee rooms on the first floor and fifteen on the second floor. Each room had a window. With the exception of the three rooms (two on the first floor and one on the second floor, each measuring 10' X 13.6'), rooms were 7' X 13.6' (employee rooms in the main bunk house No. 1 were 7'2" X 12'9"). , . There were no heating or bathing facilities in this building. It was up to each occupant to heat or not his particular room, and showers were taken in the shower house, which was south of Bunk House No. 1 and next to the garage. At a later date one room and part of another were converted into a washroom, which had a large washbasin, a urinal and two toilet stalls. , . Both bunkhouses were bachelor quarters for single male employees and continued as such until abandonment in the late 1950s. It was given a Notice of Prohibited Occupancy by the State of California, on February 11, 1976. , . The Bunk Houses were part of the Rancho Sespe Headquarters complex which included the main office, barns and blacksmith and carpenter shops, corrals and stable house. , . The ranch was owned by Mrs. Eudora Hull Spalding. She along with her brother, Morton Denison Hull, had inherited the ranch from their father, Morton B. Hull, in 1895. In 1915 Eudora bought out her brother's share and became sole owner of Rancho Sespe. Her ownership continued until her death in 1942. Her will stipulated that the ranch be deeded to California Institute of Technology under the trusteeship of her husband, Keith. Mr. Spalding died in 1961 and in 1973 CalTech sold the ranch to the Hillman Company. In a matter of fifteen years the ranch was sold five times and finally in 1991 the then owners of the ranch, using the old parcel map of 1892 sold the ranch parcel by parcel. , . The headquarters parcel was bought by James P. Finch who generously donated the smaller of the two Bunk Houses (Bunk House No. 2) to the Fillmore Historical Museum. In February, 1995, this building took a six mile, two and one half hour ride down State Highway 126 to its present location on the Fillmore Historical Park.