El Furieides, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Nov 15th 2006 at 1:06PM

Imagine for a moment you are moving to Montecito, CA and you'd really like to make a splash, maybe make Oprah and Ellen DeGeneres and the other famous residents of this town take notice and maybe even angle for an invitation. If so, let your wallet guide you to "El Fureides" the first grandaddy of Montecito estates. It's another great estate which was designed by renowned architect, Bertram Goodhue, this one for New York businessman James W. Gillespie in 1906. The home measures around 10,000 sq ft and is full of dramatic touches like gilded ceilings, domes and vaults with a definite Moorish influence. The home has five bedrooms and the gardens include a variety of water features. $37.5 million gets you a home famous enough to have its own vintage postcards. After the jump, you'll want to entertain Oprah in the under the gilded dome.