Built 1856 CHISL # 626 Designated CHISL 1958 Area 4,047 m² Added to NRHP 15 October 1966 | NRHP Reference # 66000227 Designated NHL December 29, 1962 Opened 1856 Phone +1 619-469-1480 | |
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Location Bancroft Dr. off CA 94, Spring Valley, California Address Spring Valley, CA 91977, USA Similar Anza House, Oak Grove Butterfield Stage Sta, Point Reyes Lifeboat, Joaquin Miller House, Jose Castro House | ||
Hubert H. Bancroft Ranch House is a historic structure in Spring Valley, California. The property also contains a natural spring, named El aguaje de San Jorge (St. George's Spring) by the Spanish, after which the community of Spring Valley is named.
It is the first Anglo-American structure in Spring Valley and was built by Augustus Ensworth in 1856 out of timbers salvaged from a shipwreck in San Diego Bay. Upon Enworth's death, the property was sold in 1865 to Rufus King Porter, son of the founder of Scientific American. Porter added a kitchen, a dining room, and two bedrooms. He later sold the property to historian Hubert Howe Bancroft in 1885. Bancroft built a more comfortable home up the hill from the adobe ranch house and a rock school house for his children, now located across the street.
The building is now a museum and storehouse for artifacts of Spring Valley history. The property was registered as a California Historical Landmark in 1958, and then declared a National Historic Landmark in 1962.