Oxnard Victorians to Open to Public for Holiday Tours

If you’ve never explored Oxnard’s Heritage Square, now is the best time. The restored Victorian homes will be decked out in holiday finery for special tours this weekend.

The houses are spruced up with Christmas trees, lights, wreaths, decorative boughs--even stockings on the fireplaces. The tours will take you inside seven of the homes--a rare treat since they double as offices and are closed during regular weekend tours.

Docents dressed in period costume will lead the one-hour tours from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tours leave every 15 minutes.

Tickets are $10 in advance ($8 for seniors and $5 for children 6-12) or $12 at the door. Tours include a stop for gourmet desserts and coffee.

That’s not all. The Young Dancers Ensemble, led by Linda Strangio-Hedberg, will perform at 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. The program includes some holiday selections.

Christmas carolers from Ventura County Christian High School will perform at 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. An antique car display from the Conejo Valley Model A Club will add to the vintage atmosphere.

The tour will also include a special display of over 75 antique and collectible dolls on loan from members of the Fiesta City Doll Club and the Camarillo/Pleasant Valley Doll Club. You’ll see everything from china dolls to wooden figures to Barbie dressed in holiday glitz.

But the homes are the real draw here. Heritage Square is a downtown city block of 11 restored turn-of-the-century houses as well as a church, water tower and pump house. The buildings, complemented by brick walkways and manicured landscaping, are located at 7th Street, between South A and B streets.

They didn’t start out there. Beginning in 1985, the city and others began an effort to preserve these elegant examples of early Oxnard architecture. One by one they were saved from the wrecking ball and moved to this downtown location. Some came from just a few blocks away; the farthest trek was six miles. It was a $10-million undertaking, and the complex finally opened in 1991.

These are the homes of Oxnard’s prominent pioneering families, and they each have a story to tell. The Justin Petit home, 100 years old this year, sat in ruins on Wooley Road until great-grandson Gary Blum, a carpenter, rescued it.

“The family was ready to burn it down,” Blum said. Now the events director and site superintendent for Heritage Square, Blum spent more than two years moving the family home and completely restoring it.

Originally 4,800 square feet (a basement was added in the move), the house with its ornate Queen Anne-style looks is the square’s centerpiece. The French-born Petit and his wife, Frances Kaufman, raised seven children there. Designed by Santa Paula architect Herman Anlauf, the house has seven bedrooms, seven entrances, two staircases, two parlors and two maids’ quarters.

Petit, who farmed lima beans, sugar beets and lemons, was a successful businessman. His was the first farmhouse in the county to have electricity installed. The house is loaded with intricate detailing--even curved windows. Painting it was a trick; Blum used seven colors.

Seven of the buildings will be open during the tours, all decorated to the hilt, inside and out. You’ll see the Perkins-Claberg House with its multi-gabled roof, ornate verandas and odd crescent-shaped window in the middle of the roof, called an eyebrow window.

Inside, a display case has been set up to exhibit some of the home’s architectural samples, like antique tiles and decorative plaster work.

One of the homes was built by David Todd Perkins, who came here from Ojai. Perkins, an astute businessman, directed the sheep and farming operations of Thomas Bard and for a time was president of Union Oil Co. He was elected to the state Assembly in 1904.

The political connections of his wife, Emma, went higher. She was a childhood friend of President William McKinley’s wife, Ida, and whenever the first lady visited the Perkins home, located then near Port Hueneme, it created quite a stir.

DETAILS

* WHAT: Victorian Christmas House Tours at Heritage Square.

* WHERE: At 7th Street, between A and B streets, downtown Oxnard.

* WHEN: 6-9 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

* HOW MUCH: Advance tickets $10 ($8 seniors, $5 children 6-12); $12 at the door. Reservations are recommended.

* CALL: 483-7960.