A Revamped 1920s Estate in Montecito Is Hitting the Market for $19 Million
Dripping with original character and style, this 1920s Mediterranean residence in the affluent seaside enclave of Montectio has undergone an extensive makeover courtesy of its latest owner and is now ready for its next caretaker. The reimagined property will soon return to the market for a dash under $19 million, with the listing held by Nancy Kogevinas of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties. The seller is Southern California-based real estate developer and designer Xorin Balbes, who doled out $4 million for the spread in 2022 and then set out to create a “modern-day heirloom.”
Completed in the early 1920s by noted architect Arthur B. Benton—widely known for crafting Montecito’s All Saints-by-the-Sea Church and helping create Riverside’s Mission Inn Hotel & Spa—the dwelling was previously owned in the 1980s by Lady Leslie Ridley-Tree and her husband Paul, founder and CEO of Pacific Air Industries. A revered local philanthropist who took the reins of the multimillion-dollar airplane parts distribution company after her husband’s death, she donated the property to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art two years before she passed away in 2022 at age 98.
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Secluded behind walls and gates, amid a tree-laced parcel of land spanning almost an acre, the creamy stucco and terracotta-roof structure is fronted by a motorcourt with room for up to 15 vehicles. Once inside, five bedrooms and seven baths are filtered across roughly 8,000 square feet of multi-level living space accented with pops of color, hand-crafted millwork and moldings, arched doorways, and high ceilings. There’s also a courtyard leading to a one-bedroom, one-bath guest apartment resting atop an attached three-car garage.
Especially standing out is an entrance foyer displaying a curving staircase, plus a spacious living area adorned with a fireplace, built-in shelving, and several sets of French doors providing seamless indoor-outdoor environs. Other highlights include an elegant teal-hued dining room topped with a vintage starburst chandelier and a family room bathed in bespoke wall coverings, as well as a gourmet kitchen outfitted with herringbone-patterned wood floors, sleek European-style cabinetry, stone countertops, dual eat-in islands, top-tier appliances, and an accompanying breakfast nook.
Elsewhere are two office suites, a media room, a yoga space/fitness center, a wine cellar, and a tequila vault, along with a glass-encased atrium boasting a checkerboard tile floor, a Murano glass chandelier, and a circular wood and chrome bar. There’s also a sumptuous primary suite sporting a fireside seating area and a pergola-covered balcony, while the marble-clad bath is equipped with dual vanities, a freestanding soaking tub, a steam shower, and a walk-in closet by Poliform.
Outdoors, the picturesque grounds are dotted with gardens, sculptures, water features, and meandering pathways and host a large pool with a spa and a Baja shelf, a lily pond, a bocce court, and an expansive alfresco entertaining patio with a built-in grill. The home is also just a short jaunt away from Montecito’s Lower Village and the beach.
Balbes has purchased and renovated numerous architecturally significant properties throughout Southern California over the past 30 years, including Lloyd Wright’s neo-Mayan Sowden House and a 17th-century mansion that once belonged to Hollywood actress Norma Talmadge, both in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Los Feliz.
Click here for more photos of the Montecito home.
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