As a regal path winds toward this handsome villa tucked amid the stalwart palms and grandfather oaks of Hope Ranch, the mythos of Southern California’s early days—which gave rise to seemingly countless expansive, luxurious Spanish colonial estates—immediately come to mind. While this residence perches beside a destination golf course and the dazzling waters of Laguna Blanca at the highly desirable La Cumbre Country Club, it dates to 1928 and stands as an exquisite reminder of the singular style of early-20th-century Spanish Colonial Revival haciendas, which came to exemplify Southern California’s architectural ethos for decades to come.
Santa Barbara, California | Dusty Baker, Caitlin Racich, and Greg Moss, Sotheby’s International Realty – Montecito – Coast Village Road Brokerage
And with good reason. Local luminaries Joseph J. Plunkett, William Edwards, and Henry Howell—among the most renowned practitioners of the Spanish Colonial Revival style in the Santa Barbara area—collaborated on its design, which incorporates many of the quintessential hallmarks of that eye-catching aesthetic: earthy barrel roof tiles, graceful arches, warm terra-cotta tile, iron-railed balconies, dramatic stairways, hand-hewn beams and woodwork, and ornamental tiles and wrought-iron details. The current owner has painstakingly restored and maintained the 3,630-square-foot home for nearly five decades, showing reverence for its enduring historic spirit.
Spaces are generous without feeling vast—most notably the grand centerpiece living room, where trussed and beamed ceilings soar overhead, a striking kiva-inspired fireplace creates warmth, and wide arched windows admit floods of light and offer cinematic views of the grounds, the lake, and the Santa Ynez Mountains in the distance. Adjoining are a formal dining room and a charming breakfast area, both offering idyllic vistas, and a light-filled chef’s kitchen boasting a double-oven six-burner Viking range, a warming drawer, a panel-front Sub-Zero refrigerator, a butler’s pantry.
A former breezeway has been transformed into a comfortable family room and a window-lined passageway leading to a secluded bedroom suite, the laundry room, the impressive wine room, and the home’s oversized two-car garage, which provides additional storage space. Also on the main level are three additional bedrooms and two baths. An interior balcony overlooking and accessible from the living room gives way to the primary suite—a personal private aerie with a sitting alcove, a walk-in closet, an elegant bath, and a balcony gazing through the trees toward the lake.
In nearly every room, the eye is directed outward, to the flourishing 1.5-acre grounds, the expansive emerald lawn, and the numerous alfresco spaces designed for maximum appreciation of the outdoors: sitting areas and patios—one with a fireplace—a built-in grilling area, and a picturesque courtyard with an Old World–inspired fountain, all reveling in the cooling curtain of green overhead.
The towering height of the enveloping trees and the undeniably distinctive style of the hacienda point to the rarefied provenance and enduring quality of this estate. It represents a unique opportunity to become a steward of Santa Barbara’s history and to sustain and preserve this significant property well into the future.
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