Grass Valley, Nevada City and Sutter Creek are each old towns of rich history and serve as excellent models for urban research. Settlers between 1848 and 1849 initially founded the City of Grass Valley. Although partially destroyed by fire in 1855, the town prospered due to the continued success of the North Star and Empire mines until 1956. Today, it is home to nearly 12,000 residents. Its downtown is truly a gem of architecture and small town urbanism.

Nevada City was originally a mining camp that was founded along the banks of Deer Creek in 1849. It very quickly became the third largest city in California due to the wealth of gold discovered there. In both 1856 and 1863, it was almost completely destroyed by fire. Today, it is home to over 3,000 residents.

The history of Sutter Creek pre-dates the Gold Rush. In 1844 Captain John Sutter founded a logging camp not far from the town of today. Mining in the area remained active until 1942. Today, Sutter Creek is home to 2,300 residents.

The foothills region surrounding the City of Grass Valley holds some of the highest quality small historic towns in the nation. Many of these cities, founded and initially built during the Gold Rush, possess the physical qualities of much more urban places with their winding streets, distinct relationship to local topographies and superb sitting of buildings. Buildings often possess an architecture that is much more refined than what can be found in other California cities of similar time periods and draw from a broad style base reflective of the wide diversity of the Gold Rush-era settlers. As models for new development, they possess many characteristics worthy of documentation and emulation.

The three historic cities are presented here as case studies: Grass Valley, Nevada City and Sutter Creek. The design of the Neighborhoods at Loma Rica emulates the essential characteristics of each of these cities – their physical design “patterns” – and will apply the best practices learned from them in order to create a place that is distinctly and uniquely of the Sierra.

Loma Rica Ranch History

The Loma Rica Ranch was purchased by the Idaho-Maryland Mining Corporation, on behalf of its owner Errol MacBoyle, in 1936.  Shortly thereafter, he began construction on a state-of-the-art horse breeding and training facility, much of which still stands today.  He began with champion Percheron Draft horses, but shortly moved on to Thoroughbreds, beginning all the horses’ names appropriately with “Gold”. 

In 1939, MacBoyle visited the World’s Fair in San Francisco and admired the “Fountain of Western Waters”, designed by the same landscape architect who created Golden Gate Park, John McLaren.  He had this fountain recreated on his reservoir, today called MacBoyle Lake, just off Loma Rica Drive in Grass Valley.  The lower Ranch (today including the Organic Farm) is gravity fed by this Lake.  Complimenting the fountain, at the opposite end, is a stone masonry gazebo built by a highly-skilled Italian stone mason MacBoyle flew in especially for the task.  When he neared the end of his life, MacBoyle spent much time here listening to music piped into the gazebo and across the water.

Loma Rica Ranch has an extended history with agriculture.  In the 1920’s the Ranch was home to one of the largest pear orchards in the world with over 40,000 trees.  Unfortunately, these trees perished in a widespread pear blight and none remain.  MacBoyle was very interested in cultivation and installed an heirloom apple orchard some years later.  There remain a number of old apple and cherry trees scattered around the property.  Today, the Loma Rica Ranch Organic Farm is resurrecting many of these old varieties, both in fruits and vegetables.

The Knoop’s purchased the Ranch in the 1950s and continued breeding and racing Thoroughbreds. The Ranch was home to as many as 250 horses and required a large staff that included trainers and jockeys.  Henry Freitas was the head trainer here for over thirty years.  The race operation shut down in the late 1980's after some changes in the tax laws made racing a less profitable and never got off the ground again as a horse operation.

In 2002 a local developer, Carville Sierra, Inc., in partnership with a trust, purchased the property to create a place with mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods and homes that were modeled on the historic homes of Grass Valley, Nevada City and Sutter Creek.