INDUSTRY · HISTORICAL MARKER
Rancho Sespe Bunkhouse #2
Industry
2
By 1919 Rancho Sespe had three bachelor quarters for single male employees: the Japanese Ranch House built in 1909, Bunk House No. 1 built in 1911, and Bunk House No. 2 built in 1919. The Ranch House stood some distance from the main headquarters complex and had its own eating and bathing facilities. Bunk House No. 1, designed by Greene and Greene of Pasadena, was the second of the three structures built and contained the kitchen, dining, and assembly rooms used by employees of both No. 1 and No. 2. Bunk House No. 2 was a smaller modified version of No. 1, with the appearance of a World War I army barracks, probably built by the Peyton Brothers and finished in late 1919. It appears to have been built almost entirely of redwood, and its interior carpenter work was painstakingly precise. It had fourteen employee rooms on the first floor and fifteen on the second, each with a window; three rooms measured 10' x 13.6', while the others measured 7' x 13.6'. The building had no heating or bathing facilities, so occupants heated their own rooms if they chose, and showers were taken in a shower house south of Bunk House No. 1 next to the garage. Later, one room and part of another were converted into a washroom with a large washbasin, a urinal, and two toilet stalls. Both bunkhouses remained bachelor quarters until abandonment in the late 1950s, and the building received a Notice of Prohibited Occupancy from the State of California on February 11, 1976. The bunkhouses formed part of the Rancho Sespe headquarters complex, which also included the main office, barns, blacksmith and carpenter shops, corrals, and stable house. The ranch had passed in 1895 from Morton B. Hull to his children, Mrs. Eudora Hull Spalding and Morton Denison Hull; in 1915 Eudora bought her brother's share and remained sole owner until her death in 1942. Her will directed that the ranch be deeded to the California Institute of Technology under the trusteeship of her husband, Keith. After Mr. Spalding died in 1961, CalTech sold the ranch to the Hillman Company in 1973, and after several later sales the ranch was divided and sold parcel by parcel in 1991. James P. Finch bought the headquarters parcel and donated the smaller bunkhouse, Bunk House No. 2, to the Fillmore Historical Museum; in February 1995, the building was moved six miles in a two and one-half hour trip down State Highway 126 to Fillmore Historical Park.
FIND IT
Fillmore, California
CITY · 18 STOPSExplore Fillmore, California
Hear every story as you drive
4.8 Stars · 800+ Ratings
© 2026 MainEngine