It is a large rambling twenty-room Spanish Colonial style hacienda with two courtyards, an arcaded veranda, and other structures including a chapel in a former small house [REF].
Couts was appointed sub-agent for the native Luiseño people (San Luis Rey Mission Indians) in 1853, and used their enslaved labor to improve his properties in the area, including this one and nearby Rancho Buena Vista and Rancho Vallecitos de San Marcos [REF].