A New Era
Celebrating 100 years of EL Cielito—Montecito’s “Little Heaven”
Written by Joan Tapper | Photographs by Dewey Nicks
El Cielito—one of Montecito’s great estates—is celebrating a centennial…and welcoming the decade with new stewards for its future. It was in 1920 that painter Doug Parshall commissioned famed architect George Washington Smith to transform the late-19th-century home on his property into an Andalusian-style residence with white plaster walls and a red-tiled roof. Smith graced the house with a classic rectangular entry, crowning the doorway with a wrought-iron balcony. He oriented the floor plan along four axes to take advantage of the views—ocean to the south, gardens on the east and west, and a grand oval driveway in front—inspiring Parshall to name the house Cuatros Vistos (“Four Views”). Inside, arched doorways, beamed ceilings, and terra-cotta floors carried out the Spanish country house theme.
Meanwhile, Dutch horticulturalist Peter Riedel landscaped the extensive grounds, planting exotic and specimen trees, siting an octagonal tiled fountain to one side, enclosing a rose garden with hedges, and, notably, designing two exquisite reflecting pools aligned with the front door that rolled out into the garden.
Over the decades, the estate changed hands and names—and portions of the property were sold, leaving a still generous four acres around the residence, which also underwent miscellaneous alterations.
About a dozen years ago, the then-owners took on the challenge of a serious renovation and addition that would adapt the home to 21st-century living. Working with Santa Barbara architect Don Nulty, who has overseen numerous historical restorations, they upgraded electrical and other systems, added a family room and space for guests, improved the traffic flow through Smith’s rooms, and updated and enlarged the kitchen and baths, all the while respecting and celebrating the original architecture and its intimate scale. The goal was to make it look—inside and out—as though the house had always been this way.
An arched portico with a glassed-in gallery above seamlessly married the old and new sections of the home. Terra-cotta floors were restored and duplicated in the new rooms; additional cabinets in the kitchen and pantry were built to mirror the originals, as were fireplace grates, decorative tiles, and wrought-iron sconces.
The garden was enhanced as well by landscape architect Dennis Hickok, who, among other touches, installed a new “hot” garden of succulents around towering dracaenas and a monkey puzzle tree.
Today the grounds are gorgeously lush, nurtured once again by recent rains. Ivy extends across both wings of the home, which are united with the grace and elegance of a century ago. Embraced by its new owners, El Cielito stands magnificent and ready for its next hundred years. •
