Leonis Adobe

The Leonis Adobe is a historic adobe located in what is now Calabasas, California. One of the oldest surviving private residences in Los Angeles County and one of the oldest surviving buildings in the San Fernando Valley, it was built in 1844 and was occupied by the wealthy rancher Miguel Leonis (October 20, 1824 – September 20, 1889) until his death. Afterward, the property was the subject of a legal dispute between his common-law wife, Espiritu Chijulla (1836 – May 10, 1906); heirs; and a daughter born out of wedlock. The dispute lasted more than 15 years in the courts.

In 1961, the adobe had fallen victim to vandalism, and its owner applied for a permit to raze the structure and erect a supermarket in its place. Preservationists succeeded in having the adobe declared Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #1 in 1962, saving it from the wrecking ball at the last minute. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

The adobe was restored and is operated as a living museum.

The original portion of the adobe dates to 1844, but little is known about its use before it was acquired by Miguel Leonis. Some reports indicate that the adobe served as a stagecoach stop on the Camino Real between Mission San Buenaventura and Mission San Fernando Rey de España.

The adobe was acquired by Miguel Leonis (1824–1889) in the 1850s or 1860s. Leonis was a bearded, 6-foot-4-inch (1.93 m) native of Cambo-les-Bains, a town in the traditional Basque province of Labourd in the French Pyrenees. He controlled much of the west end of the San Fernando Valley and part of Ventura County.

The adobe was built in stages and, by the 1870s, Leonis had extensively enlarged and remodeled the dwelling into the Monterey Colonial-style mansion that remains today. He walled in the upper and lower porches to add more rooms. He added a Queen Anne-style veranda on the front of the house and paneled the walls of the living room.

Leonis came to Southern California as "an ignorant Basque sheep herder and blossomed into a robber baron holding feudal sway by the aid of a small army of vaqueros." The first land he acquired was the 1,100-acre (4.5 km²) Rancho El Escorpión, in what is now the West Hills section of Los Angeles. He started as an employee at the ranch and bought half of the ranch from its owner when he became ill. The other half of the ranch was owned by a widowed mission Indian, Espiritu Chujilla. Leonis acquired Espiritu's land by marrying her, though the marriage was later denied by Leonis.

He added to his holdings using the California homestead laws. Wherever his livestock grazed, he built a shack and had one of his 100 employees become a "tenant" to support his claim under the homestead law. To prevent competing homestead claims, Leonis and his vaqueros were in constant conflict with squatters. In 1875, a conflict with a group of former Union soldiers who tried to settle on his lands led to two weeks of violence and killings, culminating in a battle in what is now Hidden Hills. It was said that at the time of his death: "His flocks and herds ranged over a hundred hills, and his lands were measured in mileage rather than acres. When he died he left an estate valued at approximately $1,000,000."