LANDMARKS COUNTY HISTORICAL SITES : Crowley House Has Had Many Lives

HISTORY: Built in 1910 for newlyweds Frank and Mae Casey Crowley, the house earned the nickname “Mother of Thousand Oaks” because, in the early 1920s, it served as a real estate office for the first housing development in the Conejo Valley. The two-story white house, which serves as the Conejo Recreation and Parks District sports office, became Ventura County Landmark No. 109 in 1986.

LOCATION: In the heart of Thousand Oaks’ “Old Town,” the house is at 2522 Pleasant Way, one block south of Thousand Oaks Boulevard and next to “ El Parque de la Paz ,” or Peace Park.

HOURS: The house is not open for tours, but the Conejo Recreation and Park District’s sports office is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

The stately Crowley House in Thousand Oaks has been put to many uses in its 80-year history. It has been the showplace for Conejo Valley’s poet laureate, the office for real estate development deals and a convalescent home.

The house was built in 1910 on El Camino Real for newlyweds Frank and Mae Casey Crowley.

It earned its nickname of “Mother of Thousand Oaks” in 1923 when Culver and Sturgis started using the home as a real estate office for the first residential development of the area. Carloads of prospective buyers were driven in from downtown Los Angeles, shown lots among huge oak trees and given dinner in the Crowley House dining room before making the return trip.

Built under a gigantic oak tree that collapsed in late 1985 into a neighboring trailer, the house is on the site of the Newbury Ranch. The spacious, five-bedroom house is white with green trim and features a large upstairs porch and a cement porch at the entrance. Some of the original interior features, including a stained-glass window in the dining room, have been removed. But hardwood-and-brass shelves still grace many of the interior walls.

After serving as a real estate development office for two years, the house was sold in 1925 to Dr. Eugene Parks, who lived there with his first wife, Jenny, until her death in 1932, and then with his second wife, Marie de Winstanley, in 1934.

The house was a showplace for Marie Parks, who would later be named poet laureate of the Conejo Valley for her song, “God of the Conejo.”

The house still has its hardwood floors, mahogany beams and volcanic rock fireplace. Gone, however, are the pond with fountain and statue that were used as a gathering point for summer evenings of music, dance and amateur theatrics for the Parkses and their friends.

The Crowley House was eventually sold by the Parkses for use as a convalescent home and has since had a variety of uses. It was later owned by the late Louis Goebel and his wife, Kathleen, who was the daughter of Eugene and Jenny Parks. Until recently, many referred to the house as the Goebel House.

Kathleen Goebel sold the house to the Conejo Recreation and Parks District in September, 1986, and it is used for the district’s sports office.