Set on a rise above the Ojai Valley, the Ford Residence is a landmark example of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture. Designed in 1929 by noted architect Paul Revere Williams for William B. Ford, the estate embodies the California hacienda tradition while reflecting Williams’s hallmark restraint and elegance.

The house is organized around a central courtyard, where arcaded passages, olive trees, and a stone fountain establish a serene focal point. Whitewashed masonry walls and red clay roof tiles create a timeless palette, while arched windows and loggias blur the boundary between interior and exterior. Every space—dining hall, salon, library, or bedroom—connects visually or physically to gardens, terraces, and shaded walkways, reinforcing the home’s seamless relationship to the land and climate.

Inside, Williams balanced tradition with innovation. Heavy timber ceilings, plaster walls, hand-forged ironwork, and decorative tilework root the home in Spanish precedent, while expansive windows, sliding partitions, and integrated systems reveal a modern sensibility. The interiors maintain a scale both grand and livable, with spaces that invite gathering yet preserve privacy.

The Ford Residence also holds historical significance. Commissioned during the 1920s transformation of Ojai, when Edward Libbey and others were shaping the valley with Spanish Revival architecture, the home reflects that broader civic vision. William B. Ford, a cousin of Henry Ford and an executive in the glass industry, played a role in that narrative—his estate becoming both a personal retreat and a cultural marker of the period.

Today, after careful restoration, the residence retains its architectural integrity and stands as Ventura County Cultural Heritage Landmark No. 169. More than a house, it represents the enduring California ideal: architecture that harmonizes climate, landscape, and lifestyle with elegance and permanence.