Santa Fe Springs : Agency Will Spend $25,000 on Repairs at Clarke Estate

The Santa Fe Springs Redevelopment Agency has voted to spend $25,000 for repairs to the historic Clarke Estate.

At last week’s agency meeting, Director of Public Works John Price showed slides of severe cracking at a joint connecting the front balcony to the walls of the two-story, Mission-style house. The needed repairs pose no threat to the public, Price said. Designed in 1919 by noted California architect Irving Gill, the six-acre estate is an important part of Santa Fe Springs’ heritage, Price said.

Lore surrounding the house includes the use of a hidden vault to hold whiskey during Prohibition. Movie directors have filmed at the estate, using its thick bamboo stands as tropical backdrops. The original owners, Chauncey and Marie Rankin Clarke, left their country getaway to the care of servants when the area became a noisy, oil boom town in the 1920s.

The city spent about $3.5 million to purchase and restore the estate, which is open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays and Fridays.