Grant Brings Adobe Museum Close to Reality : Piru: Repairs may begin on landmark damaged in the Northridge quake.

More than a year after they began filling out applications and grappling with bureaucracy, Shirley and Robert Lorenz are close to achieving their dream of converting an old Piru adobe into a public museum.

*

The couple have received a $493,520 federal grant to begin repairs to their family’s 142-year-old Camulos Ranch adobe, a Ventura County historic landmark severely damaged during the Northridge earthquake.

“We fought like mad” for the grant from the Historic Preservation Partnership for Earthquake Repair, said Robert Lorenz.

With the funds, the Lorenzes want to begin renovations of the 1,800-acre ranch that they hope to turn into a museum by the fall.

“My father brought us up to know that this place was a trust and he wanted to make it into a museum,” said Shirley Lorenz. “That was his dream and now it’s become mine.”

Officials with the Ventura County Museum of History and Art said that the ranch, which has one of the last authentic 19th-Century adobes in California, has much to offer.

“The Camulos Ranch is a genuine structure which played a key role during the county’s early history,” said Charles Johnson, an archivist with the museum. “It was so important that the padre of the San Buenaventura Mission would go out there once a month to celebrate a Mass. That was very uncommon.”

Liz Westerfield, program manager for the Historical Preservation Partnership, said the Lorenzes did not receive a grant when they first applied last year because the organization had limited funds.

“We only had $5 million, and the demand was much too great,” Westerfield said. “That’s why when we were able to obtain another $5 million, the Camulos Ranch was on the top of the list.”

The ranch was built by Antonio del Valle on land given to him in 1839 by the Spanish king.

The ranch took the name Camulos from an Indian village known as Kamulus on del Valle land. Family tradition says that Camulos means House of Refuge, Shirley Lorenz said. Her father, August Rubel, bought the ranch in 1924.

*

The ranch complex includes an 11,000-square-foot bracket-shaped adobe that has 28 rooms with walls four feet thick. Its main section is 200 feet long, and its two wings extend 125 feet each.

The ranch’s winery measures 15,000 square feet, and another adobe is 3,000 square feet.

It also features a schoolhouse and a small wooden chapel that served as a place of worship for Franciscan priests and nuns traveling between the San Fernando and San Buenaventura missions in the 19th Century.

With the grant, the Lorenzes hope to convert the adobe into a museum displaying 19th Century furniture, clothing and paraphernalia.

Shirley Lorenz said she has been collecting family heirlooms for years. Recently she contacted members of the del Valle family, who offered items that belonged to the ranch’s first owners.

Plans for the museum also include a display of Indian arts and crafts that Lorenz’s father began collecting at the turn of the century.

*

Visitors to the adobe will have access to the grounds, which feature a huge black walnut tree and several rose gardens.

“This is the last remaining working ranch around here and I want to preserve it in its original state,” Lorenz said, adding that although the ranch will become a museum, her family plans to continue growing citrus and avocados on the 650 acres surrounding the ranch.

But the Lorenzes still have a long way to go. They need an additional $1.5 million to repair and restore the ranch, they said.

The first grant will be used to retrofit the main adobe, which still is covered with a tarpaulin. Lorenz has to put on a hard hat to walk through the piles of plaster on the wooden floor, and chunks of walls are gone.

“It’s going to take a long time, but this is a start,” Lorenz said as she wiped dust off her hands after touring the damaged adobe. “The grant is just enough to get our feet off the ground.”

Lorenz recently obtained nonprofit status for the ranch, which will allow it to hold fund-raising events.

The first fund-raiser, a barbecue under the walnut tree, is scheduled for 1 to 5:30 p.m. June 10 and 11. The event will feature a mariachi band and performers dancing to 19th Century tunes.

Those interested may call the Ventura County Museum of History and Art for reservations, Lorenz said.