Fans still flock to “Bonanza” star Lorne Green’s replica of the show’s iconic Ponderosa house, built to promote a Mesa golf development in the early 1960s.

Cindy and Keenan Strand realized they were getting into a curious situation when they purchased their 3,766-square-foot midcentury house in Mesa in 2019. Still, the couple had to get used to unfamiliar vehicles slowly cruising by, strangers taking snapshots from the street and the doorbell ringing at strange hours. 

“I’ve even seen people walk into our backyard while I was washing dishes at the kitchen sink,” Cindy says. “They forget this is private property.” The curious visitors come to pay homage to the Strands’ house, called Ponderosa II, which is a physical representation of the beloved TV show, “Bonanza”. 

NBC broadcast a whopping 431 episodes of the Western series from 1959 to 1973. Set in the 1860s on a ranch near Lake Tahoe, “Bonanza” showcased the Cartwright family, led by patriarch Ben, played by Lorne Greene, along with his three adult sons, initially portrayed by Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker and Michael Landon. “TV Guide” ranked it 43rd on its list of the 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time, and it remains popular in syndication. 

In 1963, Greene and his wife, Nancy, hitched the popularity of “Bonanza” to an investment in the Apache Country Club, now called the Golden Hills Golf Club, near Power Road and Southern Avenue in Mesa. To promote the development, they built a replica of the Ponderosa, the TV show’s ranch house. Ironically, the actual Ponderosa was a film set at Paramount Pictures studio in Burbank, California.

But building Ponderosa II required negotiations with the studio. “The ‘Bonanza’ producers were so protective of the home’s image, they would never grant a right to replicate it in real life, except, under considerable pressure from its star, Lorne Greene,” says Vic Linoff, president of the Mesa Preservation Foundation.

Linoff adds that he especially appreciates the Ponderosa II’s local connections. “It was based on sets created on studio sound stages, but when it came to Mesa, the house was the work of Nick Donato, a well-known developer and builder who was in the partnership with Greene, and Lynn Valentine, a popular, eccentric Mesa artist and interior designer,” he says.

Valentine’s design featured antiques, including Spanish wrought iron gates that led to the dining room, which were repurposed from the Mission Inn in Riverside, California. The home’s great room showcased lofty ceilings, a massive fireplace and a wide staircase allegedly leading to second-floor bedrooms, at least on TV. “But it’s a single-story home, and the staircase is only an elegant pathway to the attic,” Linoff says. 

Stylistically, the Ponderosa II is an Old West Revival, according to architect Mark Vinson of VinsonStudio and author of “And TiKo-Tu? The Midcentury Architecture of Greater Phoenix’s East Valley.”  

“The house exhibits those style characteristics, including exposed rafter tails, board-and-batten rough-sawn wood siding and log slabs, and pitched shake roofs with exposed beam ends,” he says. “It’s interesting that the Old West Revival style flourished during the midcentury period, demonstrating that not all midcentury architecture was midcentury modern.” 

During its opening weekend, 3,700 people toured the house. “Bonanza” stars showed up to add some swagger to the housewarming event. “Greene, Landon and Blocker were very tight, and all were there,” says Louise Swann, a former Mesa Preservation Foundation board member. “There’s a grainy picture of Landon doing the twist, and Blocker would soon launch the ‘Bonanza’ steakhouse chain.”

Greene envisioned the home as a weekend golf retreat, but the couple sold it a few years later in 1965. “They didn’t use it that much, since Lorne was busy as a big star,” Swann says. “And even back then, there were too many looky-loos bothering them.” 

The home’s second owner, who was not enamored with Western decor, made some unsympathetic changes, adding a white rug and white walls and removing many of the antique fixtures. “Fortunately, instead of throwing them away, they were stored in the attic,” Swann says. 

Louise Swann and her husband, Tom, who met through “Bonanza” fan events, became the third owners of Ponderosa II in 2011 after an exhaustive search for the house. Tom was the director of “Bonanza” Conventions, which hosted get-togethers at the Ponderosa Ranch, a theme park at Incline Village near Lake Tahoe. The park operated from 1968 until 2004.  Local interest in the Ponderosa II had faded, and the couple, who lived in Gilbert, weren’t sure it still existed.

“Tom eventually spotted it on Google Earth, a big house on half an acre on a cul-de-sac, with a golf course wrapping around it,” Swann says. “I drove by, and it was like, ‘Eureka, we found the Ponderosa II. But it looked very different from how it is now.”

The Swanns restored the house, the ultimate “Bonanza” collectible, displaying their many trinkets associated with the television show, ranging from commemorative plates to liquor bottles to slot machines. “It was a labor of love for us,” Swann says. “Our only compromise was leaving the ceiling of the great room white, because that room is so dark.”  

The couple hosted four “Bonanza” conventions at the Ponderosa II, including entertaining 125 people, some of whom came from Australia and Europe, for the show’s 60th Diamond Jubilee in 2019. Rex Allen Jr., Johnny Western and Don Collier of “High Chapparal” fame entertained at these hoe-downs.  They also had the once-forgotten Ponderosa II designated as a City of Mesa Historic Landmark in 2014. Four years later, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. “The process was long, but then it became famous again, and I’m really proud of our work,” Swann says. They subsequently sold the house in 2019 to the Strands.

Swann doesn’t think the house’s mystique will ever fade. “This is the Western version of ‘Star Trek’ with die-hard fans,” she says. “We had a trivia contest at an event, and after about 60 ‘Bonanza’-related questions, we gave up declaring a winner, as there were still six contestants who hadn’t been stumped.”