Muristek
The Santa Barbara City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to designate Casa De Cuatro Vistas as a historic landmark.
The house, at 1201 Las Alturas Road, was designed by one of Santa Barbara’s most influential architects.
“Staff did a very nice job presenting it from a historical perspective,” Mayor Randy Rowse said. “The owners of the property were there and were very excited about the presentation.”
The resolution adopted by the council does not restrict any changes on properties around the historic house. It just prevents any changes to the house itself.
The Historic Landmarks Commission has the power and duty to recommend to the City Council that certain structures, natural features, sites or areas in Santa Barbara having historical, architectural, archaeological, cultural, or aesthetic significance be designated as a landmark.
And that’s what the council did Tuesday.
Historic landmark status is considered the highest distinction given to a historic resource in the City of Santa Barbara and demolition is prohibited.
“Designation as a landmark confers honor and recognition on structures contributing to the city’s unique historical and architectural traditions,” staff said.
Architect Carleton Monroe Winslow designed Casa De Cuatro Vistas in 1919 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, which became an important part of Santa Barbara’s heritage in the 1920s when the city deliberately transformed its architecture and look into a romantic Spanish Colonial Revival/Mediterranean style city.
“Not only is the main house architecturally significant, but the site has significant landscape elements and a small mid-century modern studio that contribute to the significance,” staff said. “Winslow purposefully placed the main house among large oak tree groves and on the hill of the Riviera to take advantage of the four views (Cuatro Vistas) that include the ocean and the mountains.”
The property had four owners that made significant contributions to Santa Barbara: Henry L. Hitchcock, Ina Campbell, MacKinley and Frances Hammond Helm and John E. Gillespie.
As such, staff said Casa De Cuatro Vistas was worthy of joining the elite list of city landmarks, “which are considered the most important resources contributing to the city’s unique historical and architectural repertoire.”
email: nhartstein@newspress.com
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