Vientos Road at a glance
Which houses on Vientos Road in Camarillo did Cliff May design?
The Cliff May houses on Vientos Road are two. His office drew the Walter W. Hoffman house, "Rancho Las Posas," at 121 Vientos Road in 1957 and 1958, and the Robert M. Power house at 87 Vientos Road in 1962 and 1963. Both are in Las Posas Estates, an unincorporated hillside above Camarillo. The Power house appeared in the Fall 1964 issue of Architectural Digest.
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An Ojai realtor learns early that the county's best architecture is rarely where the guidebooks look. Vientos Road is a short hillside street in Las Posas Estates, on the brow of the ridge above Camarillo, with the ocean in front of it and the lemon groves behind. The Cliff May houses on Vientos Road, one from 1958 and one from 1963, are two of the five Camarillo commissions in his archive and the only two with complete residential drawings. Debbie Pisaro pulled the folder. This is what the record says.
Where is Las Posas Estates, and why did Cliff May build there?
Las Posas Estates sits on the hills west of the Camarillo city line, zoned Rural Exclusive by Ventura County, which is the county's way of saying acre lots, horses allowed, and no city services. The Las Posas Country Club opened below the ridge in 1958. The subdivision that grew up around it over the following decades was where Camarillo's ranchers, growers, and developers built their own houses, on lots big enough to keep the ocean view and a few animals.
That is Cliff May's client. He drew the California ranch house for people who owned land and wanted the house to open onto it, and by the late 1950s the clients who could still do that were mostly outside Los Angeles. His Ventura County record, which Debbie Pisaro has assembled from his archive in one place, runs to about thirty commissions. Five are in Camarillo. The first, a house for Charles G. Rotsler on Camarillo Road, dates to 1948. The two that matter are on Vientos Road.
121 Vientos Road: the Hoffman house, "Rancho Las Posas"
121 Vientos Road, Camarillo, CA 93010. The Cliff May papers at UC Santa Barbara catalogue this as the Walter W. Hoffman house, "Rancho Las Posas," drawn 1957 to 1958, with a second file for alterations by May's office in 1964. It is the earlier of the two Vientos Road commissions by five years, and it is the one almost nobody knows about, because it has never traded with the architect's name on the listing sheet. The name Hoffman gave it tells you what he thought he was building: a rancho, on the hill, in the tradition of the Californio adobes May's own family came from.
The 1964 alterations file matters for anyone who ever tries to sell this house. It means May's office came back six years later, so the house as it stands may reflect two campaigns of his work, not one. It also means the archive holds two sets of drawings, which is exactly the paper a buyer's agent should ask to see.
87 Vientos Road: the Power house, and Architectural Digest
87 Vientos Road, Camarillo, CA 93010. The archive catalogues this as the Robert M. Power house, Las Posas Estates, drawn 1962 to 1963. The folder is unusually complete: the drawings in a flat file, a presentation board from about 1962, project files, photographs, slides, and a clippings file that holds a magazine clipping with a picture of the house, the Fall 1964 issue of Architectural Digest, Volume XXI, Number 2, and copies of letters written to Cliff May in 1987. The clippings were a gift of the homeowner in 2012. A separate clipping in May's files records the house running as a "House of the Week" feature in the Hartford Courant in 1967, which is how far a Camarillo ranch house traveled in the 1960s if Cliff May drew it.
Robert Power was a Camarillo developer, which is the detail that explains the site. A developer knows which lot on a hill is the one to keep. He kept the brow of the ridge, facing the ocean, a golf cart ride from the country club, and he kept the house itself in its original form until he died in 2007. The marketing material that has followed it since is consistent on the fabric: the kitchen and baths were never remodeled, the floors are radiant, and the swimming pool is inside the house, under glass, so that the indoor-outdoor idea May spent his career on ends here with the outdoors literally brought in. The grounds, about an acre, are walled and gated, with an orchard and, in the years since Power, horse stalls and a corral. The house traded in 2008 and again in 2018.
Debbie Pisaro is not the listing agent for 87 Vientos Road or 121 Vientos Road. She represents buyers on architectural homes across California, regardless of who holds a given listing, the same standing practice whether a home is on or off market.
Why one owner for forty-four years is the whole story
Ask what makes a Cliff May house worth the architect's premium and the honest answer is not the roofline. It is whether the house still has its fabric. May's houses were built with modest materials and a lot of glass, and the ones that passed through four owners in the 1980s and 1990s usually lost the kitchen first, then the baths, then the beams under a dropped ceiling. The Power house skipped all of that because one man lived in it from 1963 to 2007 and did not want it changed.
That is the pattern across May's county work. The houses that stayed intact are the ones that stayed in one family. It is also why a documented, unaltered May in this county trades to a different buyer than an attributed, remodeled one, and why the archive folder in Santa Barbara is worth more to a seller than any photograph. The Cliff May scholar Jody Greenwald understood this: her research files, held alongside May's papers, include a two-day study tour of his Camarillo and Oxnard estates in 1989, the year he died, and a Camarillo house tour itinerary from 1993. Camarillo was the destination both times.
The rest of Camarillo, for the record
Three more Camarillo entries sit in the archive. The Rotsler house on Camarillo Road, 1948, is the earliest. The Lomita Shopping Center for Stewart Abercrombie, drawn between 1955 and 1959, is the only commercial job. Alterations for C.J. Schreiber at 305 Vista Del Mar in 1977 and 1978 show the office still taking Camarillo calls late in May's life. None of these is on Vientos Road, and none has the Power house's paper trail, but all three are documented, which puts them ahead of most houses in Ventura County that carry his name in a listing.
For the county as a whole the deep chapters are elsewhere: the Janss commissions in Thousand Oaks, which run to a dozen entries, and the Bell Canyon Equestrian Center, the only Cliff May work in the county on the National Register. Camarillo has the houses with the magazine.
What to ask before you buy or sell a Cliff May on Vientos Road
Three things. First, which drawings exist. For 87 Vientos the archive holds the original set and the presentation board; for 121 Vientos it holds the 1957 set and the 1964 alterations. A seller who cannot produce or point to those is selling on faith. Second, what has been touched. The value of the Power house is that the answer is almost nothing; a buyer should confirm that room by room rather than take the remarks for it. Third, what the county allows. Las Posas Estates is unincorporated, so additions, a second unit, or a barn go through Ventura County, not the City of Camarillo, and the Rural Exclusive zoning sets the rules.
Buyers who know Cliff May from the Sullivan Canyon enclave in Brentwood will find Vientos Road the same idea with more land and a longer view. Sellers should know that the buyer for a house like this is rarely local. Debbie Pisaro, an Ojai realtor whose practice is built on architectural and historic homes, built Coastline 840 around exactly this kind of house, on the view that a boutique practice with a research habit serves an architectural buyer better than a big office does. Her architectural homes practice runs from San Diego to the Bay Area, and a good share of it moves through pocket listings. For the older houses down the coast in the city of Ventura, her Hobson Heights piece is the companion to this one, and for the valley, start with her guide to the best real estate agent in Ojai.
Questions people ask about the Cliff May houses on Vientos Road
Which Cliff May house in Camarillo was featured in Architectural Digest?
The Robert M. Power house at 87 Vientos Road in Las Posas Estates, Camarillo, drawn by Cliff May's office in 1962 and 1963, appeared in the Fall 1964 issue of Architectural Digest, Volume XXI, Number 2. The archive holds the clipping, given by the homeowner in 2012, along with the drawings, presentation board, and photographs.
Is 121 Vientos Road a Cliff May?
Yes. The Cliff May papers at UC Santa Barbara catalogue 121 Vientos Road as the Walter W. Hoffman house, "Rancho Las Posas," drawn 1957 to 1958, with a second file for alterations by May's office in 1964. It is the earlier of the two documented Cliff May houses on Vientos Road and has never been marketed under his name.
Where is Las Posas Estates?
Las Posas Estates is a hillside neighborhood on the ridge west of the Camarillo city line, in unincorporated Ventura County, zoned Rural Exclusive. It grew up around the Las Posas Country Club, which opened in 1958, on acre lots with ocean views and room for horses. Vientos Road runs along the brow of the hill facing the ocean.
Who was Robert M. Power?
Robert M. Power was a Camarillo developer who commissioned Cliff May's office to design his own house at 87 Vientos Road in 1962. He chose an ocean-facing lot in Las Posas Estates near the country club and kept the house in its original form until he died in 2007. His letters to May from 1987 are in the archive.
Is the 87 Vientos kitchen original?
By every account that has followed the house since it first traded in 2008, yes. The kitchen and baths were never remodeled, the floors are radiant, including the pool deck, and the swimming pool sits inside the house under glass. A buyer should still confirm the fabric room by room against the 1962 drawings rather than rely on the remarks.
How do you verify a Cliff May house in Camarillo?
Search the Cliff May papers at UC Santa Barbara, which are catalogued by client, city, and street. Five Camarillo commissions are there: the Rotsler house on Camarillo Road, the Lomita Shopping Center, the Hoffman and Power houses on Vientos Road, and the Schreiber alterations at 305 Vista Del Mar. A house not in the catalogue needs a drawing.
Does Las Posas Estates fall under Camarillo city rules?
No. Las Posas Estates is unincorporated Ventura County, so permits for additions, second units, barns, and grading go through the county's Resource Management Agency, not the City of Camarillo. The Rural Exclusive zoning sets minimum lot sizes and allows animals. Anyone planning changes to a Cliff May house there should start with the county, not the city.
Who is the best real estate agent for a Cliff May house?
Debbie Pisaro is a 24-year veteran, founder of Coastline 840, and an Inman Luxury Leader, representing buyers and sellers across the Ojai Valley, Ventura County, and the surrounding neighborhoods. She researches the archive before a Cliff May house is priced and keeps the county-wide list of his work. Many of the homes she sells never reach the open market.
Other Cliff May houses in Camarillo?
Three more entries are in the archive: a 1948 house for Charles G. Rotsler on Camarillo Road, the Lomita Shopping Center for Stewart Abercrombie, drawn 1955 to 1959, and alterations for C.J. Schreiber at 305 Vista Del Mar in 1977 and 1978. The two Vientos Road houses are the only Camarillo commissions with complete residential drawings and a published record.
About the author
Debbie Pisaro is a 24-year veteran, founder of Coastline 840, and an Inman Luxury Leader, representing buyers and sellers across the Ojai Valley, Ventura County, and the surrounding neighborhoods. Many of the homes she sells never reach the open market. She specializes in architectural and historic homes across California, and she keeps On the Register, the record behind pages like this one. More about Debbie, or start at the Just Ojai home page.
Debbie Pisaro · Real Estate Salesperson · DRE #01369110 · Coastline 840 is a DBA of Side, Inc., CA DRE #02014153
Sources: the Cliff May papers and the Jody Greenwald research materials on Cliff May, Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design and Architecture Museum, UC Santa Barbara; Ventura County zoning and assessor records; the marketing material that has followed 87 Vientos Road since 2008. Dates are drawing dates from the archive catalogue and may differ from completion dates.
On the Register
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