Wilder Ranch, Horse Barn, 1401 Coast Road, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz County, CA

Significance: Wilder Ranch State Park's ranch buildings, while representative of rural vernacular architecture, reflect a century of traditions associated with innovative and progressive dairy ranching in California. Wilder and four succeeding generations of his family were quick to adopt the newly developed cream-separator, and the majority of the machinery was water powered using a Pelton wheel and a belt-driven system, including the electrification of the dairy in the 1890s. In the 1930s the emphasis at the ranch shifted from milk to beef stock, as well as thoroughbred horses and artichoke production. The architecture of the Horse Barn is unique because there appears to be no other horse barn of its type constructed in the region, and perhaps California, during this period.

Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: FN-252

Survey number: HABS CA-2274-A

Building/structure dates: 1892 Initial Construction

dairy farms barns storage facilities dance halls horses santa cruz wilder ranch wilder ranch barn horse barn coast coast road cruz santa cruz county barn structure barn plan cover page blueprint california historic american buildings survey possibly designed by edward van cleek photo architecture vernacular architecture architectural diagrams floor layout architectural plan library of congress building plans

1933 - 1970

Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/

No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html