A Cool Little Contemporary House Downtown

Noteworthy new listings….

The word “penthouse” has been devalued over time, and the listing for 411 E. Carrillo Street ($3.199 million) takes it even further from its meaning. This isn’t an apartment, but a free-standing, two-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath house at the back of a .11-acre lot between Laguna and Olive. Designed by architect James Gauer and built in 2011, it has clean lines the likes of which you don’t see much downtown. It was not open this week, but I would love to see it—to admire it, and also to get a sense of exactly how narrow the kitchen is (designed for the couple that likes frottage?), to dream about ways to do more with the courtyard, and to investigate whether the property is impacted by the neighboring medical center’s parking lot.

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At the other end of the aesthetic spectrum, in every conceivable way, is 2028 Anacapa Street ($3.7 million). I hadn’t realized that the broker’s open was canceled, so I got a peek inside before realizing my error. The property is in one of those crazy-wonderful Santa Barbara locations, with a pedestrian entrance at the street (between Mission and Padre) and a garage on Green Lane. You walk down a long path to reach the house, which was built in 1915 and is surely one of a kind. The furniture was being moved out when I popped in, and it must show better without it; even so, this is clearly a fixer with fabulous potential.

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The 2001 house 1051 Via Chaparral ($4.595 million), west of Highway 154, won’t be on the market long: it’s solid and livable, and care went into the details. The bathrooms are a bit much, however, and that goes double for the the powder room with padded walls. (What happened in there?) The backyard could be better utilized, in my opinion, although the outdoor kitchen and covered terrace are winners. I do wonder whether people looking in that part of town would rather have a property that’s oriented toward the ocean.

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2016 Foothill Road ($3.45 million) feels somewhere more remote than between Mission Canyon and Cielito, and I mean that in a good way. The 1949 house on 1.66 acres gives off Old California vibes, and while it is currently decorated to the nines tens elevens—not even the laundry room was spared—the charm is palpable. The Ojai home later in this post could be a template for bringing this one into the present.

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The horseshoe driveway at 18 Celine Drive ($3.495 million), in the hills above San Roque, makes for a marvelous welcome. Unfortunately, the clunky columns flanking the front door continue inside. (If they’re structural, then maybe just wall the foyer off.) Beyond that, the house is fixable—you’d want to update surfaces, and I’d eliminate the hallway entrance to the primary bath. The payoff is the view, widescreen and dramatic. While there’s not a ton of outdoor space right outside the house, you can walk up the 69 steps (I counted) behind it to a viewing terrace. P.S. The wet bar is tighter than an airplane lavatory.

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The 1971 spiffer-upper at 1239 Orchid Drive ($3.199 million) isn’t noteworthy, but the location in More Mesa Shores should appeal to beach lovers—just down the street is a private, gated stairway to a stretch of sand that non-residents rarely visit. (Mind the falling homes.) Those leather loveseats look like a set-up for family therapy.

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483 El Jina Lane ($4.095 million) is the Ojai house I mentioned earlier. The seller paid $1.45 million in March 2024, and while I have no idea what it looked like before, it looks fantastic now. It comes off butch, what with all the wood, until you get to the pink bathrooms.

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And a few others worth checking out:
••• 700 Via Hierba ($6.185 million): Hope Ranch four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath house that sold for $5.2 million in 2023. It got redone a bit, but not enough. The “preliminarily approved renovation plans” add three and a half baths. The 1.5-acre grounds—with pool and tennis court—may prove to be the main draw.
••• 2038 Cielito Lane ($3.185 million): Stylish midcentury floops. In the spring of 2024, it sold in nine days for $3.015 million—$620,000 over the asking price. The kitchen is better, but the baths are still on the to-do list.
••• 2020 Las Canoas Ridge Way ($2.798 million): You could ski off that roof (below).

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