Also known as the Newhall Mansion or Cook Mansion, the Piru Mansion was built in 1886 and is Ventura County Historical Landmark #4. It was built by Piru's founder, David C. Cook, a wealthy publisher of Sunday Schooltracts and supplies from Illinois, who had wanted to establish a "Second Garden of Eden,"[1] specifying, tradition says, the planting of Biblical apricots, dates, figs, grapes, olives, and pomegranates. Cook's house became known as the Piru Mansion because of Sunkist's "Mansion Brand" valenciaoranges, which can still be found in the area. The mansion originally used natural gas as it possessed no electricity or running water.
The mansion and the surrounding land, Piru Fruit Rancho, was purchased by Hugh Warring, of Buckhorn Ranch, and his wife, Orie J., in 1912. He had two adjoining bathrooms installed upstairs. In 1934, the Warrings built another home on the property, now known as the Warring Stone House. Hugh's son Floyd lived in this second house on the property until his death in 1965. The Warring family owned the Piru Mansion for a total of 56 years, from 1912 until it was sold to the Newhalls in 1968, making them the longest-running owners of the original historical home.[citation needed]
In 1968, the Mansion was purchased by the Newhall family. Scott Newhall began restoring it after the earthquake of 1971, during which the two chimneys were knocked down. In February 1981, a spark from a painter's blow torch ignited the house while it was being painted and burnt it to the ground.[2] The owners, seeking to reconstruct their home, used old photographs and the assistance of people who had restored the house during its lifetime. The new mansion was completed in December 1983.
In 1994, the Northridge earthquake also knocked down two chimneys. In 2003, the Newhalls sold the Piru Mansion to David Newhall Hill, a relative of the Newhall family. In 2012, the Mansion was sold to a private investment group and converted into an event venue for weddings, corporate retreats and other occasions as well as a private vacation rental for overnight accommodations.[3]
