Hiding behind a fig tree and a distinctive David Shelton–decorated gate sits a quaint little Victorian cottage that was once home to a colorful character. (More about him in a minute.) The home was built about 1875 at 520 Chapala Street, and it appears on one of the earliest maps of Santa Barbara — the 1877 bird’s-eye view map drawn by Eli Sheldon Glover. It’s unclear who built this home, but by the early 1900s, it was owned by one of the most prominent families in our fair city: Thomas Bloodgood Dibblee and his wife, Francisca de la Guerra. (They did not live in the house. They lived in the biggest mansion on the Mesa called Punta del Castillo.) The modest frame home on Chapala Street sat on one of three properties on the block owned by this family.
A Moving Story
Dibblee had passed away in 1895, and in 1905, his widow, Francisca, sold this property to a successful builder named Willis W. Varney. He constructed many homes in Santa Barbara, including the home at 122 East Mission Street that I wrote about in one of my previous columns. The local paper noted that Francisca sold the property to Varney for $10. (Many people are fooled by the $10 price on a deed, but in most cases, far more money changes hands. The nominal amount of $10 was used in order to conceal the actual amount of money since the information on deeds is recorded in legal records.)
The same day that the property sale appeared in the paper, another article mentioned, “The Dibblee property at 520 Chapala Street has been sold … to W.W. Varney, who will move the present cottage on the lot to the rear of the premises and erect a modern cottage in its place” (Santa Barbara Morning Press, December 31, 1905). That’s how the home ended up in its present location at 519 Fig Avenue.
In 1908, Varney built an apartment house on the Chapala Street side of the property and lived there with his family for a while. About 1919, the Varney family moved to the Fig Avenue home. A barn/workshop was added behind the home. That building is now the studio of architect Jeff Shelton.
An Entertaining Career
The Varneys’ son, Earl, who had been born in 1900, was definitely the most interesting person to live in the Fig Avenue home. He was involved with the “Flying A” silent-movie studio when he was just a teenager. In 1915, the studio made a comedy that involved a group of local kids, and the paper wrote, “Earl Varney seems to be the ringleader among the ‘kids’ and they all romp through their stunts in interesting fashion” (Santa Barbara Morning Press, October 9, 1915).
Earl’s interest in entertainment continued throughout his life. During the 1920s, he worked as an electrician for several Hollywood movie studios, including the Famous Players–Lasky Corporation and the Warner Brothers Studio. In the 1930s, Earl moved back to Santa Barbara and started his career as a tax accountant. But when it wasn’t tax season, he traveled around the West Coast with various circuses, and he was a member of the Pacific Coast Showmen’s Association. He explained, “I’ve been interested in the circus since I was 12 years old…. It turned from a boy’s infatuation to a man’s sincere avocation. During the years, I’ve made so many friends in the various circuses that I feel right at home if I visit any of them now” (Santa Barbara News-Press, October 9, 1952). Several other families lived in the home after his death in 1955.
The home’s present owner, Alexandra Cole, told me that she appreciates the home’s location near State Street, as well as the high ceilings that give a sense of spaciousness.
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.
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