Petre Ranch House

Archie Petre came to Oxnard sometime before 1910 as a younger member of an extended family that included his brother-in-law and sister, George and Mabel Austin. In those early years, the Austin and Petre families were tenants in the Fry/Puntenney House. In 1911 Archie married Anna Maulhardt, a daughter of early Oxnard pioneers Heinrich and Augusta Maulhardt, and this house and one hundred acres were a wedding present from them, a gift they duplicated for each of their children upon marriage. Archie suffered from ill health and died at age 38 in 1925. Anna and her children then moved into Oxnard and lived in a house on C Street, now part of the Henry T. Oxnard Historic District. Designed by a local architect named Hunt in 1911, the house is a California Bungalow style home from the period when that style was at the height of its popularity in Oxnard. Its rustic simplicity often masked superior craftsmanship and modern lifestyle comforts, and its characteristic exterior features include notched rafters and knee brackets. The roofline is original, but a second, larger dormer at the back was added after the house was relocated, and the front porch has been enclosed.

Oxnard, California · United States