1332 Santa Barbara Street

Painted plein air, no studio work. The classical colonial Spanish Revival architectural style of the University Club in the center of Santa Barbara’s downtown attracted my attention enough to set up my plein air kit in the gateway opposite the front entrance of this most beautiful building. It was constructed c. 1923, and unifies its tile roofs, stucco walls and elegant gardens with a Mediterranean theme, that suggests that the Club mansion was built in Spain and transported to the California coast. It is a tribute to builders all over the world, who enclose spaces for human activity using imagination, design, and art to create interiors and exteriors that bring pleasure, enjoyment and appreciation to those who travel in and out of them.