Siteline | A Montecito Classic Ready for Its Next Act

Noteworthy new listings….

The photos of 751 Buena Vista Drive ($18.9 million)—designed by George Washington Smith in 1930, with a Lutah Maria Riggs addition three years later—play up the abundant character, as well they should. What you don’t see, however, is that more than surface work needs to be done: the downstairs floor plan wants adjusting to create en-suite bedrooms; the guest cottage was built for visiting Lilliputians; and there’s a bedroom accessible only via the primary bedroom. (For fighting spouses? A live-in lover? Both?) The project will be substantial, but what a payoff: an estate with ineffable charm and architectural provenance on 4.67 acres in a sweet location.

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4439 N. Shadow Hills Boulevard ($2.895 million), in a 55-and-over gated community near Highway 154, is not my thing in so many ways that I don’t know where to start. (OK, fine. Those pillars.) But the house is big (4,200 square feet), even if the floor plan is occasionally baffling, with lovely views. P.S. Two wet bars? Yeah, baby!

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The listing for the 1920 bungalow at 2205 Oak Park Lane ($1.9 million), a block south of Cottage Hospital, is Spanish Colonial Revival, but I get something more Moorish from it. (Note the marvelous driveway arch.) Either way, it’s cute, and it’s been stylishly renovated. And it’s also tiny, with the exception of the primary bedroom upstairs, and the neighbors—including one with a taste for corrugated metal—are right up on you.

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The architecture of 326 Vista Pacifica ($2.2 million)—sharply pitched ceilings, stairs everywhere, a big terrarium-like space—is pure 1970s, and living in a planned urban development isn’t for everyone. The views, sweeping all the way south to Ventura, make up for a lot, even if the power lines are a bummer.

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