Tour an East Coast–Style Montecito Manse That Feels Distinctly Personal
There is something mysterious and magical in the air in Montecito, the hillside Santa Barbara playground for California’s well-to-do set. At one eight-bedroom 1895 Colonial Revival home, that feeling is built in. It’s not officially documented that storied architect Stanford White—the McKim, Mead & White principal whose firm was responsible for monumental projects such as the renovation of the White House’s West and East wings—designed the expansive estate. But he had done a previous Pennsylvania home for the original owner, Alexander Blair Thaw, and it is rumored White was asked for at least some initial sketches for this property before he was tragically murdered.
Regardless of its true auteur, the two-story home stands out among its neighbors—not only for its rambling size, an effect of several past additions, but also for its Gilded Age architecture. Its shingled façade, pilasters, and portico are decidedly East Coast, unlike the Spanish and Mediterranean elements that inform Montecito’s other landmarks. When the current owners first bought the home in 2018, they knew an East Coast design team was needed to turn it into the comfortable family abode they wanted. The wife, a certified master gardener and former chair of Nantucket by Design, rang up AD100 architect Gil Schafer and designer Michelle Holland, both of whom she had met at design events on the Atlantic island. Soon, a dream team was forged to tackle the project. Derek Shue of Giffin & Crane Contractors handled the construction.
When the design process started in the fall of 2019, architecturally there were two choices, according to the New York–based Schafer. “We could unravel the whole thing and take it completely apart, or we could try to work with what it is and bring some of the character and charm back.” Ultimately, the light touch approach seemed best. An updated front door made the entrance from the grand motor court more friendly, while elegant new moldings, wainscoting, and French doors to the garden brought glamour back to the first-floor common spaces. Elsewhere, a sweeping archway between the large kitchen and a newly reimagined informal dining room created an easy yet period-evocative family gathering place.
Some of Schafer’s largest changes, which he and project lead Carl Carfi implemented during the pandemic with the help of local architect Anthony Grumbine of Harrison Design, were the removal of a messy sunroom addition and the construction of a shingled pool house cabana, which was connected to an existing one by a new outdoor dining pergola. “We were really just trying to create a backdrop for Michelle and [the wife] to work their magic with the decoration,” Schafer notes.
That decoration began with several meetings between designer and homeowner about wallpaper. Each bedroom in the house has a custom one, designed by Holland in collaboration with artist Kevin Paulsen. Complex layers of color and pattern define the interiors, and the entry sets the stage. A golden Kravet grasscloth that Paulsen stenciled with floral bursts wraps the walls around the original banister stair. A gilded mirror and a lantern-style pendant by Jamb add to the turn-of-the-century feel.
The nearby Lotusland garden was a huge inspiration, both for the house’s playful Arcadia Studio–designed landscape of palms, aloes, oaks, and a double shell fountain with rills, and the interior design, where the subtle purples, pinks, and greens of a sun-drenched California garden feature heavily. Particularly special is the formal dining room, where, between original millwork, Paulsen painted a fantasy mural that includes sweeping trees and the home’s series of obelisks, repurposed outside to line a path through the reimagined backyard.
Despite the home’s grand proportions and history, the owners wanted a place where they could relax feet-up with their four grown children and their grandkids. “Michelle is so good at creating a warm, welcoming, gracious family home with ‘family’ being the operative word—because she's not afraid of using the collections that families have,” says the wife, who has treasure troves of antique clocks, rugs, and country-house furniture that Holland seamlessly integrated into the design—even sourcing specific clock shelves for some of the most prized pieces.
“It's always really important to me that the house be a reflection of the people who live there,” says Holland. “You should walk in and say, ‘This is just a reflection of you.’”
1/23Originally built in 1895, the grand, eight-bedroom Colonial Revival home is unique in the Montecito, California, area, whose architectural influences typically hail from its Spanish missionary heritage.
2/23The estate’s covered front porch is decorated with Munder Skiles seating with pillows of Pierre Frey and Cowtan & Tout fabrics. Jamb lighting fixtures hang overhead.
3/23Paulsen embellished the entry’s Kravet grasscloth walls with a floral motif inspired by poppy sconces original to the late 1800s home. The gilded mirror is also original, and the tufted leather bench is 19th-century English. Pendant by Jamb.
Art: Mary Bradish Titcomb4/23A Kravet glasscloth covers the walls in the living room, which has its original fireplace mantel with a Mary Bradish Titcomb painting and Rose Tarlow sconces above it. An oval ottoman by Robert Kime, upholstered in a Jed Johnson fabric, and a cocktail table by Bungalow Classic are at the center of the myriad seating options, including a pair of antique Charles of London roll armchairs, recovered in a striped Jasper linen with Samuel & Sons fringe, that once belonged to the wife’s great aunt.
Art: Kevin Paulsen/Nantucket House Antiques & Interior Design Studios5/23Inspired by Lotusland’s gardens, Paulsen created a custom jungle fantasy mural in the formal dining room in the panels between the room’s original millwork, which is painted in Farrow & Ball’s Card Room Green. Dos Gallos designed the custom side chairs—covered in a Colefax and Fowler linen blend—and table, made of walnut with iron supports. The rug is vintage and the sconces are by Vaughan.
6/23When the homeowners purchased the house, the expansive kitchen was all white, but the wife “wanted color,” says Holland. “She said, ‘I need happiness.’” The room’s new cabinetry by Santa Barbara–based company Architectural Millwork is brightened by Farrow & Ball’s sunny Babouche paint.
7/23As a primary gathering place, the kitchen required generous space to cook, eat, and hang out. Santa Barbara–based company Architectural Millwork designed the custom cabinetry. The island is made of reclaimed wood from hickory barrels. Holland called on Nantucket-based decorative painter Karen Ward to create the diamond pattern on the wood floor. Starbuck Minikin crafted the large kitchen island.
9/23Schafer added a grand archway with molding and batten and board detailing between the kitchen and informal dining room, which he reorganized to serve also as a pantry and lounge. A large custom striped rug by Steven King Decorative Carpet grounds the room, where the dining table and chairs live alongside a seating area with George Smith and McGuire furniture.
10/23The well-stocked bar is painted in Farrow & Ball’s gray-brown hue, Mouse’s Back. Vintage Artemide pendant.
11/23An antique maple chest of drawers, circa 1870, has been repurposed as a vanity in a bathroom wrapped in a Brunschwig & Fils seafoam green wallpaper. The mirror and armchair are also antiques.
12/23All eight of the home’s bedrooms feature custom wallpaper designed by Michelle Holland and artist Kevin Paulsen. In this one, a Leonards New England bed with Robert Kime Tree of Life shams stands atop an antique rug from the homeowners’ extensive collection.
13/23An antique dresser from Holland’s Nantucket shop and a leaf-patterned armchair decorate a bedroom with a fern wallpaper by Holland and Paulsen.
Art: Nelly Littlehale Murphy14/23Holland fitted an antique three-quarter canopy bed from the wife’s grandfather with a plaid and purple bedskirt of de le Cuona fabric. The similarly hued rug is custom by Steven King Decorative Carpet and the side table is antique with a vintage German table lamp and Robert Kime shade.
15/23Checks, circles, leopard print, and floral patterns come together in this bedroom, where the curtains are a Jane Shelton cotton, the leopard armchairs’ pillows are made of a Rogers & Goffigon linen. The hand-tufted rug is by Elizabeth Eakins.
16/23The mudroom’s cabinetry is painted in Farrow & Ball’s Ball Green. A roman shade made of a Fermoie cotton hangs in the window. Pendant by Jamb. Custom rug by Steven King Decorative Carpet.
17/23Local firm Arcadia Studio took landscape inspiration from Montecito’s magical Lotusland and reused existing garden features like this series of obelisks that now line a path around the yard. The sandstone stools at the fire pit are by Eny Lee Parker.
18/23Arcadia Studio designed a double fountain with rills using a pair of antique Italian Vicenza stone shells from Eye of the Day in Carpinteria, California.
19/23The Santa Ynez Mountains can be seen from the original pool deck with new shingled poolhouse cabanas, designed by Gil Schafer to evoke the historic house’s style.
20/23The delightful combination of Farrow & Ball’s Yeabridge Green paint and Jennifer Shorto’s oranges branch-patterned wallpaper greets visitors to a cabana bathroom. The Chelsea Textiles faux-bamboo bench wears an Old World Weavers fabric. Sconces by Soane.
21/23At the center of the dual cabanas is a fireplace lounge and outdoor dining table.
22/23Under the backyard veranda, guests can dine in set Janus et Cie armchairs with cushions covered in a Peter Dunham fabric.
23/23A pair of Janus et Cie swivel daybeds with cushions in a Pierre Frey cotton canvas create a lounge zone at the shallow end of the pool.
