The James Day House is a 2200 sq. ft. two-story house representative of the agricultural heritage of Ventura County and an example of Victorian agriculture. It was built in East Ventura by James A. Day on his farm during the 1870s. As the house was being built, Day and his family lived in another downtown Ventura house. Because of its rich history, the Day house has been featured in the 1883 book, History of Santa Barbara & Ventura Counties. The house has been the home of some of the county’s prominent farming families and the land has produced walnuts, apricots, lemons, limes, oranges, and other agricultural crops. At one time, the 80 acres contained 8,000 fruit trees.
The building later served as a ranch office, but has remained vacant since the 1980s and was boarded up about ten years ago. The property is located on the corner of Telephone Road and Kimball, across from the city aquatic center and community park.
Since 1945, R.H. Smith Family Properties, a subsidiary of Smith-Hobson LLC, has owned the house and the 80 surrounding acres of farmland. The Smith-Hobson company, itself, was started in 1865 by William Dewey Hobson, one of the founding fathers of Ventura County. Smith-Hobson currently leases the land to Terry Farms, a strawberry grower.
This 140-year-old farmhouse located on the south coast is made of redwood. The exterior has a unique Victorian appearance due to carved pillars. Ornate molding and 12’ ceilings grace the interior. Besides the chipped paint and broken boards, the farmhouse is currently inhabitable as it doesn’t meet any of the current building codes. In addition, a detached garage was removed after being blown over in a windstorm. Smith-Hobson sees the house as a liability. They consider it a fire hazard; a potential food safety hazard to the farm, because it harbors rodents; and a danger to any potential squatters or trespassers.
San Buenaventura Conservancy, a nonprofit focused on historic preservation, offered to assist Smith-Hobson with finding someone to move and restore the structure. Moving the structure to another Ventura location is estimated to cost between $20,000 and $40,000. This is in addition to renovation costs. Because the house is in such bad condition, renovation costs are expected to be at least $500,000 for a contractor or owner who plans to complete most of the work themselves. Hiring other contractors would likely add up to $1 million or more. After renovation, the house could potentially be worth millions.
Other possibilities for the house would be to adaptively reuse the building as an office or a museum. A change to an office, community center, or other public facility could be difficult as the building does not currently have ADA accessibility. Using the building as a museum would have to be weighed against the increase in competition from virtual museum experiences, the need for volunteer docents, and the existence of other house museums in Ventura like the Dudley House and the Olivas Adobe.
The house is not in any immediate danger of demolition. Nonetheless, both the San Buenaventura Conservancy and Smith-Hobson hope to find someone to move and renovate the building. Ventura County has lost several historic farmhouses to new development. As the Day House is in poor condition and is not even established as an official landmark, without being moved, eventually the house could face demolition.
CONTACT INFO
San Buenaventura Conservancy
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