Orella Adobes

The Orella Adobes at Canada del Corral on the Gaviota coast about 20 miles west of Santa Barbara are Santa Barbara County landmarks. The adobes may trace back to the late 18th century, as a tile was found during a remodel in the 1930s with the year "1798" on it.

The property was originally part of Rancho Cañada del Corral. While owned by Ortega descendants, it was a frequent center of social events and played host to numerous travelers, including John C. Frémont in 1847. Ownership passed to Bruno Orella and his wife Mercedes Gonzalez y Guevara in 1866.

Bruno Orella, was born in the Basque country in Spain in 1830, and came to California at the time of the Gold Rush. He married Mercedes Gonzalez y Ladron de Guevara. The couple established a prosperous farming/mercantile family with extensive holdings throughout the Santa Barbara/Ventura region.^[1] The site of Orella's town-home (known as the "Janssens-Orella-Birk Building") on the main street of Santa Barbara is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Orellas were patrons of the local Catholic churches and religious orders. All sons of the family attended Santa Clara College and to this day there is an Orella Prize given at that university to the student with highest grades in the sciences.^[2]

When the Orellas purchased the adobes, they became their country residence. One of the buildings served as schoolhouse to their children, and a tutor was hired to live on the ranch. Bruno's daughter, Elena Orella Covarrubias, inherited the adobes and remodeled them in the 1930s in Spanish Revival style. Oil was found on her land in October, 1929, with the drilling of the "Erburu No. 1" well by General Petroleum Corporation. The El Capitan oil field became one of the richest in the state; production at the field peaked in 1946.^[3] It was part of Bruno's large landholdings in the region and remained in the hands of his descendants until the property was sold to Exxon Mobil Corporation in 1971. On August 17, 1993 the Santa Barbara Board of Supervisors declared County Landmark status for the Orella Adobes.^[4]

References

1. ^ "Portraits of Basques in the New World", Edited by Richard W. Etulain and Jeronima Echevarria, University of Nevada Press 1999, Chapter 13: "Robert Erburu and Becoming a Postmodern Basque", by William A. Douglass
2. ^ College of Arts and Sciences Awards
3. ^ California Department of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources, California Oil and Gas Fields, p. 69
4. ^ Resolution of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Barbara, California. Resolution no. 93-436. August 17, 1993

• Extensive Orella family records at the Santa Barbara Historical Society, including numerous "Santa Barbara News-Press" articles on the family from the late 19th century to the present day.