Fabled Gables: 721 De la Vina Street

Original Owner: George M. Roeder

Year of Construction: 1874

Built in an Italianate style for George M. Roeder, it was lived in for many years by George’s well-known son, E.C. Roeder. With his friend Adam Ott, who lived on the next block, E.C. ran the Roeder & Ott hardware store at 727 State Street, a very popular business. E.C. was given the house by his father in 1903 and lived there for 45 years. 

It was one of five homes built in the Italianate style in the West Downtown neighborhood, which the City of Santa Barbara published a study of in January 2012. It has undergone significant alterations, including the addition of a second story in the back sometime around 1940. But many of the Italianate references persist, including, according to the city’s study, “everything that is unusual for the style such as a single story, five-ranked with a full-width front porch. The arched windows are framed in and therefore do not exhibit any additional crowns.”

Based on the information from, among other sources, Survivors; Santa Barbara’s Last Victorians, a publication of the Santa Barbara Historical Museum.