The Hacienda

Architectural Heritage

Antonio Maria Ortega, grandson of Jose Francisco de Ortega, built an adobe house at Rancho Tajiguas Preserve in 1800.  An adobe addition was built in 1834 by Daniel Hill (husband of Rafaela Ortega) and in 1872  subsequent owners Frank C and George W Young added a wood-frame wing.  By 1924, under ownership of Kirk Johnson, the original adobe blocks were crumbling, thwarting plans to restore the structure.  Instead, notable Santa Barbara architect George Washington Smith was hired to design a new ranch house at the site of the adobe, using blocks and roof tiles from the adobe along with new mud blocks made from three different soils at the Ranch. [1]  

In 1963 the Abercrombies hired architect Cliff May to add extensions to the east and west wings.  May designed the west bedroom wing in Smith’s Spanish Colonial Revival style, and a recreation room to the east wing in May’s modern style with floor-to-ceiling glass doors.  [1]  The May-designed recreation room would later become the dance studio for actor John Travolta, who owned the home from 1978 – 1988.  

The ”El Rancho Tajiguas Preserve Main House”, also referred to as the Hacienda, was declared a Santa Barbara County Place of Historic Merit in 2015. [2,3]

[1]  Phase 1-2 Cultural Resources Study, El Rancho Tajiguas Preserve, Alexandra C. Cole, Preservation Planning Assocites (June 14, 2013)  

[2] Cultural Landscape and Historic Rural Landscape Study and Phase 1-2 Historic Resources Management Report for El Rancho de Tajiguas (Post/Hazeltine Associates, 11/5/20)

[3] Santa Barbara County List of Places of Historic Merit https://www.countyofsb.org/1683/Places-of-Historic-Merit