Ventura County Landmark No. 35: W. L. Hardison House

This Victorian-style (California eclectic) house was constructed of redwood on a portion of Rancho Santa Paula y Saticoy in 1884. It is a two-story structure with seven bedrooms and two bathrooms. It was built without a foundation, but the structure was later raised and a full basement of rock walls was built beneath it. It was built by Pennsylvania craftsmen for W. L. Hardison, a co-founder of Union Oil Company and Limoneira Ranch.

Hardison, born in Maine in 1850, was a Representative in the 104th Pennsylvania Legislature before coming to Santa Paula in 1883 with his wife, Clara McDonald, and two children, Guy Lyman and Augusta (Plaque with background information about The Hardison Estate, 2020). The house was designed by an architect from Pennsylvania and built in 1884 as one of the earliest examples of Italianate architecture in Southern California. The barn was constructed in 1885 and is also one of few original California Victorian barns that remains in its original form and on its original site. From 1884-1900, when W.L. Hardison lived here, he co-founded what became the Union Oil Company and the Limoneira Company, which is now a world leader in citrus and avocado production. His endeavors pioneered the oil, shipping, and refining industries in Ventura County, as well as the citrus industry. He was also instrumental in forming the Santa Paula Water Works and Thermal Belt Water Company to ensure that municipal and agricultural water needs of his community would be reliably met (Plaque with background information about The Hardison Estate, 2020).

Wallace and Clara also received two more children, Hope and Warren, while residing at the estate (Plaque with background information about The Hardison Estate, 2020). Today, many places in Santa Paula bear his influence, including the Universalist Church built on Main Street in 1892, and the Lewis Hardison House built at 231 N. Eighth Street in 1887. Wallace and Clara’s daughter, Hope Hardison, married James Norris Procter in 1912 and lived in the home until her death in 1983. Through Hope Hardison Procter and Robert Alexander Procter, the home remained in continuous family ownership from 1884 to 2014 (Plaque with background information about The Hardison Estate, 2020).