Have you ever wondered about the old white house that sits at the Betteravia exit along Highway 101 in Santa Maria? It’s known as the Enos Ranchos House, and it’s being moved to make way for a new 113-acre mixed-use development.
Instead of demolishing the house, which was built in 1872, according to historical records, it’s being moved roughly a half mile to a location within the development where it’ll sit as a historic landmark.
The house is currently owned by NKT Development, which as of press time was scheduled to formally donate the building to the city of Santa Maria at the June 21 City Council meeting.
“It’s for the greater good for the community, so they can have a history they can identify with,” Steve Simoulis, a project manager for NKT Commercial, told the Sun.
Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Director Alex Posada refers to the historic structure as the Smith-Enos house, because it was built by William Charles Smith, who handed the property over to the Enos family years later.
According to historical information that Santa Maria resident Joey Wilson—a living descendent of Smith—provided to Posada, Smith was born in Yorkshire, England, and moved to Canada before eventually settling in California. Smith was educated in Santa Maria schools and was a farmer before working in the real estate and oil industries. He also served as a City Council member for 16 years, retiring in 1931.
Although he’s not sure if it’s a Victorian house, Posada said it was built several years before some of the original houses near downtown Santa Maria that are still standing to this day.
“It’s the kind of middle-income type house back in the day,” Posada told the Sun. “There’s a lot of detail on the woodwork. The inside’s been renovated over the years.”
Its major historical significance, according to Posada, is that it’s one of the last homes built in that area at the time. The house was occupied up until about four years ago, he said.
Now it’s getting moved. Brandt House and Building Movers and its owner, Eric Brandt, are responsible for relocating the house intact.
You may have seen big-rig trucks labeled “wide load” moving an entire house down the road. Ever wonder how it gets done?
The operation to move the house is planned to begin on the morning of June 24, Brandt said. Instead of hauling it several miles, it’s only going a half-mile to a location within the development.
Before it’s moved, safety first. Contractors will have a meeting to assess all of the safety requirements. Then it’s moving time.
It starts with putting the house on beams—that part is already completed. The next step is to lift the house with a unified jacking machine that raises the roughly 40-ton house while at the same time keeping it level.
The building then gets placed on a self-steering dolly and secured with chains. The heavier the house is, Brandt said, the more self-steering dollies he uses. A four-axle, all-wheel-drive, heavy hauler truck will haul it to its new location down a graded slope at 5 mph. Trucks like that can’t go much faster than 45 mph in low gear, Brandt said, adding that no more than five people will be involved in the operation.
Once at its location, the house will sit there until a new basement is built, upon which the house will eventually go. It’s not clear what’ll happen to the house once it’s fitted onto the foundation.
“It’s still kind of undetermined,” Posada said. “We’ve been in discussions with the historical society. They have an interest in using the house for historic displays, maybe bring it back to period.”
Brandt is no stranger to moving houses. He got his start 40 years ago when he moved his own house. Word got around and people started asking him to do the same for them, so he made a living out of it and has been moving houses ever since. His company is based in Santa Maria and the Los Angeles area.
He doesn’t move just houses, but entire apartment complexes, too. Last fall, Brandt moved a nine-unit condominium—a building roughly three to four times the size of the Enos house, Brandt said—out of Pasadena.
He said he’s experienced an uptick in moving historical buildings in the last few years. Back in the day, when Brandt got started, you could move your own house.
“You can’t move your own house anymore,” Brandt told the Sun. “So much red tape.”
Staff Writer David Minsky can be reached at dminsky@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jun 23-30, 2016.