Minimalism With a Capital M in Montecito

Noteworthy new listings….

There’s minimalism and then there’s Minimalism, and 581 Freehaven Drive ($11.95 million) earns the distinction: it makes Kim Kardashian look like a hoarder. With nothing to distract attention, a spare aesthetic such as this demands quality materials, which the 1986 Warner Group* house delivers, and the bare walls place the focus squarely on the views—mountains or ocean, depending on which way you’re facing. The floor plan does have some idiosyncrasies, in that you enter via the massive glass doors off the dining area, not a foyer per se, and the ocean view is from the office/studio rather than the living room. P.S. I’d love to see the look on my housekeeper’s face when I tell her that I’m carpeting the bathrooms. *UPDATE: Thanks to Martha Gray for pointing out that the design is not by Warner Group, per se, but by “Warner Group Architects’ CEO and Principal, Thiep Cung” before the establishment of the firm. / Photos courtesy of Kelly Teich of Warner Group Architects and Eric Foote Photography.

Photos courtesy Kelly Teich of Warner Group Architects and Eric Foote Photography.

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At the other end of the spectrum is the abbondanza of 90 Butterfly Lane ($7.485 million), a three-bedroom built in 2009 between the Highway 101 pedestrian undercrossing and the pig house. The convenience of the location, with Coast Village Road on one side and Butterfly Beach on the other, is tempered by the unavoidable factor of freeway and train noise. Perhaps that’s why the lower level is kitted out with a pub room and side-by-side home theaters. No more arguing over what to watch!

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1315 Mission Ridge Road ($4.795 million) is a 1975 Cliff Hickman house that drops down the Riviera hillside with admirable panache. The views are major, but the interior design could use streamlining. (Limiting the floors to one or two materials would go a long way.) The shower with a glass wall embedded in a rock must stay exactly as is.

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I suspect 207 Eucalyptus Hill Drive ($9.7 million) will prove a popular draw, what with its five bedrooms, 5,577 square feet, and location on a prime Eucalyptus Hill Street. (Plus: the highest ceiling ever in a primary bedroom.) The lack of window treatments leads me to assume it’s a spec reno; the seller paid $7.9 million in September 2022 and made improvements, but I do wish more had been done with the multi-level bathroom. (Glass brick has no place anywhere, in my opinion, but especially in a Mediterranean-style property.) There are renderings that show how great a pool would look with the mountains as a backdrop.

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The day after 4045 Lago Drive in Hope Ranch sold for $6.273 million, another 1920s Joseph Plunkett house a few doors down came on the market: 4005 Lago Drive ($7.95 million). It’s bigger, but less of a blank slate; the kitchen and baths have been done in a Mediterranean style. The standout feature, besides the architectural provenance, is the “oasis-like pool, complete with a slide, fire fountains, a waterfall, a Jacuzzi, and an outdoor sauna.” You can catch a glimpse of the fabulous slide in the second photo below.

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It would’ve been interesting to see what the interior of 904 Jimeno Road ($5.395 million) in the Lower Riviera looked like when it was built in 1938—the rooms seem to have been flattened out a bit in subsequent decades. But the layout is solid, with an inviting great room, main-floor primary, and an unobstructed view. And there’s plenty of space to add a pool down below.

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The seller of 1600 Mira Vista Avenue ($4.795 million) paid $3.8 million for the 2005 house in May 2021. It’s pretty livable, and the upstairs primary has a view uncompromised by wires. The property is at the eastern end of the Riviera cul-de-sac, and there’s an easement across the driveway for public pedestrian access to Franceschi Park—or at least the part of the park that’s below Mission Ridge Road. (I had no idea that area was criss-crossed by trails, so I went and explored it—more to come in a future post.)

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And a few others worth checking out:
↑↑↑ 2039 Boundary Drive ($10.9 million): Stylishly renovated three-bedroom in Birnam Wood (note the high-gloss dining room, above); already in escrow.
••• 150 Santa Elena Lane ($5.85 million): Supercute 1955 house that shows what many of the houses in Montecito Oaks could look like; already in escrow.
••• 2687 Montrose Place ($3.095 million): Mission Canyon flip attempt; it sold for $2.575 million in June 2022 and got put on the rental market.
••• 1415 Kenwood Road ($3.249 million): 1943 Alta Mesa four-bedroom with intriguing barn elements.
••• 1619 Santa Rosa Avenue ($2.295 million): 1,590-square-foot Mesa fixer.
↓↓↓ 466 Arango Drive ($2.495 million): 1965 house in the Racquet Club development off N. Turnpike Road with quite the orifice—I mean entrance (below).

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