Page 2 - lw3029
P. 2
THE DESIGN of the Piru mansion is attri-
buted to the architectural team of Samuel and
Joseph Cather Newsom, the most renowned
late-Victorian architects in California. It is a
typical Newsom rendering of the Queen Anne
Victorian style.
THE HOUSE WAS BUILT between 1886 and
1890 by David C. Cook, who grew up in Illinois
and founded a company bearing his name to
· publish religious books and Sunday school
papers -a company which still is in business as
the Cook Publishing Co. of Elgin, Ohio. His
health failed when he kwas a little past 40.
Seeking a favorable climate, he selected Ventu-
ra County, then beyond the end of rail lines, and
purchased the Mexican land grant known as
the Rancho Temescal, which included the
present town of Piru and several miles of
tributary canyons. He laid out the town, built a
hotel, the Methodist church down on the
corner, and, finally, the mansion.
MR. COOK was a devout Methodist, and set
out to create both a profitable fruit ranch and a
new Garden of Eden. Conforming to fruits
mentioned in the Bible, he planted dates,
grapes, pomegranates, figs, apricots, and
olives. The olives and pomegranates have
"gone native" and now grow thickly in the town
and on the hills around the house.
THE RAILROAD was completed about the
time the house was under construction, which
allowed for doors, windows, lumber, and tile to
be shipped in, as well as for dried fruit to be sent
to market.
THE MANSION was equipped with gas, since
there were natural gas wells on the ranch, but it
had no electricity or running water. The small
circular structure uphill from the main house
is the three-hole outhouse, which was used
until the turn of the century when Mr. Cook, his
health restored, departed for the East and left