Wood Poachers Called a Threat to Historic Barn

NEWBURY PARK —  A historic Dos Vientos Ranch barn, saved from the scrap heap when a local parkland agency decided to acquire it, faces a peril of a different kind: thieves in search of weathered wood for that oh-so-hip look in interior decorating.

The barn--already disassembled and carefully archived by developers who are building 2,360 homes in Newbury Park--was relocated a month ago, trucked across Potrero Road to the 600-acre Broome Ranch.

The Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency, which owns 14,000 acres of open space in the area, voted two months ago to take the wood barn, which the Dos Vientos developers offered free of charge to anyone interested in reconstructing it. But it could be years, if ever, before the barn is reassembled, officials said.

Meanwhile, it sits on public land, essentially in the middle of nowhere. It is surrounded by a chain-link fence and barbed wire, but some people fear it would eventually fall prey to vandals and thieves.

“If the egg falls off the counter, it cracks and you can’t put it back together again,” said Eric Taylor of VTN West Inc., the land-use consultant hired by Operating Engineers--one of two Dos Vientos developers--to oversee the dismantling of the barn.

Although his work is finished, Taylor is concerned about the barn and its sun-beaten redwood planks.

The 8,000-square-foot structure was part of the ranch owned by Malcolm Clark, who gained his fortune as Henry Ford’s tool-and-die maker and designer of the Snap-On line of hand tools. It earned landmark status in 1986.

Clark built the barns, a house and several stables during the Depression to house Tennessee walking horses, Percheron draft horses and Clydesdales. Most of the other structures were destroyed in a fire.

Operating Engineers has been advertising the barn’s availability for years. Philip McGrath of McGrath Family Farms was interested in relocating it to his 300-acre ranch in Camarillo, where it would house an agriculture educational center.

McGrath even hired a structural engineer. But the $80,000 price tag was too high.

McGrath vouched for the popularity of weathered wood.

“We’ve got old barn wood [on his farm] that we ration out to friends,” he said. “It’s kind of hard to come by.”

Thousand Oaks Mayor Judy Lazar, who is also a member of the conservation agency’s board, is from the East Coast, where theft of weathered barn wood is more common. But she doesn’t expect that to happen here.

“I don’t think it is as valued here,” she said.

Greg Smith, a senior planner with the city who 10 years ago worked on clinching historic designation for the barn, believes the site is secure. It is hidden from the main highway and sits at the end of a gate-blocked road.

Lazar said the barn may be included in a city-owned equestrian center proposed for Broome Ranch. Or parts could be incorporated into a community center planned for a park at Dos Vientos.

The deciding factor could be the cost of reassembly, said Tex Ward, executive director of the conservation agency.

Smith estimated that resurrecting the barn could cost as much as $75,000, but Lazar said the budget could reach six figures to bring it into compliance with disabled-access laws.

The conservation agency still hasn’t determined who will build the equestrian center, or where.

The agency is considering nine sites, four in Broome Ranch. A decision about the equestrian center’s location and features is expected in September.