A Whimsical Home Straight from a Storybook

In 1933, the Better Homes & Gardens Contest Committee in Santa Barbara, headed by Pearl Chase, pronounced this home a “distinctive small house,” in a contest that chose this home from a list of hundreds of “small homes … within five miles of Santa Barbara costing $8,000 or less and built in 1931 or 1932.” (This home was built for $7,000 in 1931.) Sixty years later in 1993, this home won another award “for outstanding contribution to the further enhancement of Santa Barbara’s beauty” from the Santa Barbara Beautiful organization.

The 2944 Serena Road home is also on Santa Barbara’s Structure of Merit list. According to the report, “Standing before the … house feels like the moment the narrator would say, ‘Once upon a time….’ The home’s whimsy stems mostly from the signature curve and flair of the roof’s ridges, decidedly placing the home in a storybook version of a Tudor Revival style…. Born into an era that looked to picturesque styles for inspiration, the English Vernacular and Tudor grew in popularity from the beginning of the 1900s until the 1920s, and maintained its strength until the late 1930s.”

The interest in affordable homes began in the 1920s. During World War I, the nation’s resources — men and materials — had been channeled into efforts to support the conflict in Europe. In 1918, the Santa Barbara County Committee on Non-War Construction stated that “any attempt at non-war construction at this time will delay and increase the cost of ultimate victory.” When the war ended in November 1918, there was a shortage of homes here. The Better Homes in America movement was aimed at making “convenient, attractive, and wholesome homes accessible to all American families.”

Inspired Architecture

Maybe it was the stock market crash in 1929 that started the fashion for nostalgia in architecture. Both the style of this 1931 home, and homes designed by the Moody sisters in the 1930s looked back to fairy tales for inspiration. Small homes with whimsical styles were affordable in harsh economic times, but still attractive in a wistful way. The architectural style of this home has been called Tudor Revival, French Normandy, Storybook Style, and English Vernacular.

Santa Barbara architect Floyd Brewster designed the home. He had worked with prominent architects George Washington Smith and Carleton Winslow Sr. Brewster worked on the designs of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and the La Sonrisa mansion in Hope Ranch, as well as the Colonial Revival home at 2405 Santa Barbara Street, which I wrote about back in 2020.

The home’s first owners were Ralph and Orilla Hughes. Years ago, several of their grandchildren came to visit the home and gave some early photos of the home to the owners.

The home’s original address was 2944 Lacy Avenue. The street’s name came from the area’s subdivider — Mildred Lacy. She was a descendent of Dixey Thompson, an early settler of Santa Barbara, who owned the Ontare Ranch and was manager of the Arlington Hotel. In 1941, the street’s name was changed to Serena Road.

Bonnie and Roger Runjavac, the home’s third owners, clearly love their home — they have lived here since 1978. In addition to the picturesque front facade, the home has an expansive view of the foothills from the back garden. Their “little English cottage,” says Bonnie, “has the bones of a duchess and the heart and soul of a saint.”

Please do not disturb the residents of this home.

Betsy J. Green is a Santa Barbara historian and author of Discovering the History of Your House and Your Neighborhood, Santa Monica Press, 2002. Her website is betsyjgreen.com.