San Ysidro Ranch, Montecito, Calif.
RETROFIT TEAM
ARCHITECT: Appleton Partners LLP
MATERIALS
Just 15 months after destruction from mudslides after the nearby Thomas Fire, San Ysidro Ranch reopened to once again serve as an A-List hideaway. The 41 vine-covered, individually decorated cottages with gated entries, enclosed gardens and adjacent private cottage side parking, wind along San Ysidro’s hillside creek and tree-lined paths. Each cottage features unique interiors with hand-selected antique furnishings, original artwork, Persian rugs, stone fireplaces and handmade four-poster canopy beds with Rivolta Italian linen. Bathrooms feature radiant-heated floors, standalone Parisian bathtubs and separate glass- enclosed showers with Frette bath linens and Bamford bath amenities from England. Cottages include a private outdoor patio with rain shower and candle-lit sunken hot tub; several include private plunge pools.
THE RETROFIT
Appleton Partners, the commissioned architect that led the property’s complete renovation back in 2008, oversaw a team of more than 200 construction workers to rebuild and restore the 500-acre property as quickly as possible following the damaging mudslides.
As part of its efforts, Appleton Partners strived to protect the property and the land from future natural disasters. The team planted mature trees, added boulder walls, strung wires across the valley and re-sited 17 cottages out of the path of rainflow from the Santa Ynez Mountains.
San Ysidro Ranch has been known as a home away from home to many notable figures over the decades: Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier were married at the ranch; John and Jackie Kennedy honeymooned there; John Huston completed the script for African Queen at the property; and the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Lucille Ball, Bing Crosby, Groucho Marx, W. Somerset Maugham and Sinclair Lewis frequented the property.
“San Ysidro Ranch is a special place where one can indulge the senses and invigorate the soul; it is a slice of heaven unlike anywhere else in the world. The ranch prides itself on the history, the beauty and the spirit of this special property. We all have worked diligently to restore it to be better than ever,” says Ty Warner, owner of San Ysidro Ranch.
PHOTOS: San Ysidro Ranch