Main-Begg Farmhouse

The Main-Begg Farmhouse, looking south from Hollister Ave.
Santa Barbara County Historic Landmark #52.
(Photo credit: Bill Dewey Photography)

Aerial photo of the Main-Begg Farmhouse located on the southwest corner of Hollister Ave. and San Marcos Rd. in the Goleta Valley, CA.

The Residence

Farmhouse, west elevation, looking northeast.

The residence is a two-story, side-gabled building erected in the Craftsman Style in 1911. Its steeply-pitched roof is topped with composition shingle roofing and its open and extended eaves are supported by scroll-sawn brackets. The home is sided with crenellated-patterned wood shingles on its second floor and narrow horizontal tongue-and-groove board siding on its first floor. Its raised concrete foundation is hidden by vertical board skirting. The building’s wood windows and doors are original and feature matching wide board surrounds. The main, or north, elevation features a recessed full-width porch. The porch has wood flooring and steps, a low and enclosed railing, and is supported by four battered wood posts and two matching pilasters. Decorative, scroll-sawn rafter tails extend from the open porch eaves. The centered, oak-paneled and glazed entrance door is flanked on both sides by wide, two-part fixed-sash windows, each containing narrow, multiple-light sashes above wide single-light plate glass sashes. A large gabled dormer dominates the second story of the same elevation. It includes a ribbon of three double casement windows, each topped by narrow multiple-light fixed sashes. The north elevation roof slope contains a red brick chimney near its peak.

Farmhouse, south elevation, with porch and deck additions, looking north.

The west elevation includes, on the first floor, a horizontally-oriented three-part window which features a centered fixed plate glass sash flanked on both sides by four-light casement sash fixtures. A narrow visor roof extends over the window. Two 6/1 double-hung windows are also located on the first floor. The second floor exhibits a set of two double-hung windows; a twopart window with a narrow multiple-light fixed sash over an 8/1 double-hung sash set within a visor-roofed narrow bay; and a 6/1 double-hung window. The south elevation contains a protruding two-story gabled wing. It includes a set of two double-hung windows on the second floor. An added 5.5-foot by 10-foot shed-roofed service porch with a modern vinyl-clad glazed door, five fixed-sash windows, and one double-hung window is located on the first floor. Additional wall openings on the first floor include two double-hung windows. The recessed west end of the elevation contains a small open porch with an enclosed shingled railing and a double-hung window on the second floor.

Photo of the Main-Begg Farmhouse, east elevation, looking west.
(Photo credit: Bill Dewey Photography)

The recessed east end of the elevation includes a small double casement window and, facing east, a glazed wood-paneled door on the first floor. A raised wood deck shaded in part by a wood trellis extends along a portion of the south elevation and wraps around the southeast corner of the residence. The east elevation contains a set of two 6/1 double-hung windows and three small casement windows on the second floor, and three single 6/1 double-hung windows and one small casement window on the first floor. An attached pergola extends to the east on the southeast corner of the house.

Living Room Fireplace

Dining Room
(Photo credit: Bill Dewey Photography)

The Garden

Avocado Grove in the Farmhouse Garden.

The garden contains a variety of fruit trees, shrubs, and flowers that are displayed in a mostly informal arrangement. Historical aerial photographs indicate that the plantings were likely placed in the ground over a period of years, dating from the 1940s through the 1970s. The historical record indicates that the landscape adjacent to the house evolved from a working ranch yard type to the present-day suburban home garden style. Several avocado trees, located in a group opposite the southeast corner of the house and arranged in row along its east elevation, are among the older fruit trees. Numerous younger but mature fruit trees extend from the home’s east elevation, including those which bear apples, figs, nectarines, apricots, oranges, lemons, and plums. Almond, loquat, pear, and Chinese privet trees grow along the southern property line. The garden also features mature ornamental shrub, vine, and flowering plants such as: camellias, lilacs, roses, and hollies on the north side of the home; jasmine, rose, monkey flower, smoke bush, and camellias on its east elevation; grape and jasmine vines in the southwest corner of the property; and Hawaiian ginger and a variety of potted cymbidium plants off the west elevation of the house.

Madagascar Jasmine

Cymbidiums

The Cistern

The working cistern near the southwest corner of the Farmhouse

This underground water storage structure is located near the southwest corner of the farmhouse.  It was built during the initial years following the home’s construction, c. 1912-1920. Its original purpose was to collect rain water runoff from the residence’s roof gutters and downspouts and store it for household washing, laundry, and outdoor irrigation. The system was probably not used as a source for drinking water. The cistern is irregularly-shaped but generally circular and consists of red brick and concrete walls and flooring.  Its flat roof is slightly elevated above grade, is composed of thick concrete, and includes a round concrete access lid.  The circular lid, with its iron ring on top, may be seen in the photograph to the right.  The storage portion is approximately 10 feet in diameter, 9 feet deep, and has a capacity of approximately 5,000 gallons. To fill the reservoir, roof-drained water is fed through a large above-ground concrete filter box with a wood-plank lid located against the house.  The gravel-packed filter box captures debris and larger particulates from the water before it flows into the cistern.  A separate small concrete chamber within the cistern extends above ground adjacent to the filter box and features a green metal lid.  This chamber releases overflow water when the reservoir is full and provides access to measure water depth or install a pump for irrigating the garden.  Modern concrete installations, visible in the photograph, consisting of a sidewalk and a trellis foundation, overlay approximately one-third of the cistern’s original roof on the southeast portion of the tank.

The Garage

Garage, south and east elevations, looking northeast.

The rectangular-shaped single-story garage was erected in 1959 and is located a few feet to the south of the residence. Its gabled, low-pitched roof has composition shingle roofing with open and extended eaves. A narrow shed-roofed porch supported by four wood posts extends along the east elevation. The building has board and batten siding. A two-car corrugated metal pull-up garage door is located on the south elevation. The remaining wall openings include a glazed door and a fixed-sash window on the east elevation and a glazed door and a fixed-sash window on the north elevation.