History
The Clarke Estate was built as the home of Chauncey and Marie Rankin Clarke in 1919. A wealthy, socially prominent couple, they hired architect Irving Gill to build their country home on 60 acres of citrus groves in Santa Fe Springs. Gill built this elegant house in an unusual style for the era. Using the feeling of Mediterranean and Mission Revival architecture, he designed this house without ornamentation. In describing his design philosophy, he wrote that architects