summer
|
fall
31
more than 150 years ago, toiled in Santa Barbara and Montecito,
creating masterpieces that still exist and that continue to draw people
to this area.
If you do not have your copies of David Myrick’s
Montecito and
Santa Barbara
volumes I (
From Farms to Estates
) and II (
The Days
of the Great Estates
), you should get thee to Tecolote Book Shop
in Montecito’s upper village and buy both. Now. Not that you’ll
find every one of the real estates pictured in this issue in there, but
David’s books will put you in touch with the history and grandeur of
Montecito’s storied architectural heritage.
Noted men such as Bertram Goodhue, George Washington
Smith, Frank Lloyd Wright, Stanford White, Reginald Johnson,
Addison Mizner, and women such as Lutah Riggs and Julia Morgan
– architects all – , designed homes for the wealthiest families in
A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE UPPER END
M
ontecito’s elite vied with each other in naming their various
estates: Piranhurst, El Mirador, Mira Vista, El Fureidis,
Tanglewood, Riven Rock, Arcady, Graholm, Las Tejas, El Tejado,
Delgosha, Solana, El Cerrito, El Cielito, Pepper Hill, Glen Oaks,
Cima del Mundo, Casa Herrero, Croyden, Casa Bienvenida,
Edgewood, Rivo Riso, Sotto il Monte, Bellosguardo, Bonnymede,
Casa Dorinda... every home was an estate and every estate had to have
a name. These palaces were designed by many of the above-named
accomplished architects, and owned by captains of industry, finance,
and manufacturing, most of whom were among the richest families in
the U.S.: the one-per-centers of their day.
Most of the homes for sale here in the $7-million-and-above range
would qualify as world-beaters in any community. In some cases – in
the United States. Landscapists such as Lockwood de Forest Jr.
and Frederick Law Olmsted (famous for New York’s Central Park)
shaped the flora that added to Montecito’s allure. Mira Vista, for
example, with an entrance on Sycamore Canyon, was the home of
the Waterman family. Nearby,
El Fureidis
, one of the homes of J. W.
Gillespie, is still there, as is some of the McCormick estate at Riven
Rock. Lotusland was
Cuesta Linda
, private home of American Bank
Note founder Erastus Gavit; it is now a treasured museum dedicated
to the memory of Ganna Walska and the exotic flora she planted and
arranged.
fact often – these estates compare favorably against their counterparts
in other high-end communities around the U.S., such as Marin
County, San Francisco, Beverly Hills, Greenwich (Connecticut), even
New York City. What you get for your money here is almost always far
superior to what an equivalent amount of money will get you in other
high-end enclaves.
What follows are five properties at the highest end of Montecito’s
valuations. We believe all are exceptional architectural examples and
offer the opportunity for resourceful buyers to take part of Montecito’s
extremely desirable lifestyle.
