Santa Barbara Style

Santa Barbara. For centuries this temperate, inviting locale has glowed with subtle but unmistakable light-- a beacon of warmth beside the profound blue of the Pacific. From the Chumash, whose predecessors can be traced to 11,000 b.c.e., to the present-day resident, vacationer, and tourist, diverse and countless peoples have been enchanted and enraptured by Santa Barbara's spell.

In Santa Barbara Style, author Kathryn Masson and photographer James Chen, invoke this magic and invite us to walk with them through winding and abundant gardens, onto the grounds of grand estates, and into the great houses of this region. Here we find the work of such architectural luminaries as Addison Mizner, Bertram Goodhue, and Reginald D. Johnson. We wander from the historic adobe mansion Casa de la Guerra-- built in the early-nineteenth century by town patriarch Jose de la Guerra-- to the spectacular, and aptly named, Villa Lucia (House of the Light)-- built in 1989. We are given an intimate look at George Washington Smith's Spanish Colonial Revival masterpiece, Casa del Herrero; and a broad view of Lotusland, the thirty-seven acre horticultural paradise. With each turn of the page, we see the beauty, grace, and style of Santa Barbara.

Kathryn Masson, author and former long-time resident of Santa Barbara, is deeply committed to the Santa Barbara preservation community. She was a member of Santa Barbara's Historic Landmarks Commission-- serving for six years as chairman of both the Landmark Designation Committee and the Awards Committee; as well, she has been on the board of the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation. She is co-author with Patricia Gebhard of the recently published Santa Barbara County Courthouse.

James Chen is a graduate of Brooks Institute of Photography and a recipient of an Honorary Master of Science in Professional Photography. He has received awards from the Art Directors Club of Los Angeles and the San Francisco Society of Communications Arts.