Channel Drive, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Jun 6th 2008 at 1:02PM

Today's home has an admirable spot in Santa Barbara, California along Channel Drive. It overlooks Butterfly Beach with views to the Channel Islands and up along the sweep of the coast. It is located in a great neighborhood with easy beach access. The home itself is a bit of a question mark. Built in 1951, it's got a modernist style but it seems a bit dated. The home has three bedrooms which are positioned for ocean views. There are cool details here, the gated property is entered through a large courtyard containing a two-car garageand the approach to the house is via wide pebbled stairs that appear to float above a reflecting pool lined with blue mosaic tiles, and bordered by plantings. The living and dining areas offer floor-to-ceiling glass windows wrapped around two sides of the building with clerestory windows for added light. The entire site has been arranged for maximum privacy so there is no need for window shades. The living room is linked to a sunken dining area with a large black circular chimney hood descending from the ceiling and hanging above a circular raised fire pit. The home sits on less than a half and acre and is listed at $35 million. Even for this area that's a lot for a house that I suspect might end up being a teardown. What say you, update and expand or scrap it and start over?

Gallery: Channel Drive

Tags: california, estate of the day, luxury real estate, LuxuryRealEstate, santa barbara, SantaBarbara

Filed under: Estates

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

designer38305495 Jun 6th 2008 2:24PM

I am guessing this will go for closer to $15-17M.

Anyone know why sometimes comments submitted don't get posted? Is it a web site technical glitch?

tj Jun 6th 2008 3:41PM

Why mention things with no photo? reflecting pool lined with blue mosaic tiles

designer38305495 Jun 6th 2008 4:01PM

I have often wondered that myself -- and how Deidre knows about them, when there are no such pictures on the listing site and no mention of the feature being mentioned.

tj Jun 6th 2008 4:17PM

Same thing happened with yesterday's Boulder house "wraparound glass table with wrought iron legs" at least I didn't see this.
Deidre must be jetting cross country to see these in person!

Rae Jun 6th 2008 4:23PM

It sits on less than 1/2 of an acre where would they put a pool? Cute house. Wonder if you could build on a second story?

John Jun 6th 2008 5:40PM

Luxist -

Would you mind showcasing some luxury estates outside the USA? There are gorgeous homes in England, Ireland, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and nearly every other place on earth.

People all over the English world read this, so let's throw them a bone once in awhile.

Peace and take care!!

Neurophilly Jun 6th 2008 7:13PM

Here, here! More great homes, more great photos - let the real estate porn roll.

Quite like this house but the furnishings are seriously wrong. Not that I'm a pure modernist, but this house would sing with at least some consideration to its period given when buying "stuff" to put in it. Small dip pool and all is well. Would have liked to have seen the 'floating stones' and water but .....

35m does seem a little optimistic given the market.

Have a good weekend!

terapr0 Jun 6th 2008 10:18PM

Ewwwwwwww......
not for $35m, thats for sure.
Im generally not so averse to modern homes, but this thing is so dated, I cant imagine someone paying that much money to live in such an abomination. It looks like the lobby at a holiday inn. At 1/2 acre, I couldnt even picture this as being any kind of returnable investment. I dont care if its in Santa Barbara, I'd still feel like a piece of sh** for paying almost 1/30th of a billion dollars for 1/2 acre of mediocre land.

tin Aug 27th 2008 1:39AM

I am sitting in this house right now. Friends have rented it. If you really want to see the blue tile and reflecting pool (which by the way has no water in it) email me and I'll send you a photo. If anyone has any ideas who the architect may have been, I would love to hear them. I have been trying to figure it out for a few days now. Most comments about the house above are true except I would love to see someone restore it (perhaps add on) rather than demo it.