Welcome to El Fureidis, located in the prestigious heart of Montecito, California, and translated as 'Little Paradise' or 'Tropical Paradise.'
This exceptional Bertram Goodhue architectural achievement is the definition of timeless elegance, and it combines the old grandeur of Montecito with the amenities of modern day living. The grounds include romantic Persian water gardens, a succession of si
x pools terraced on different levels of the cascading garden, and perhaps the rarest tree collection in North America. A romantic creek runs along the southern boundary of the estate. HISTORY: The residence known as El Fureidis was one of the founding estates in Santa Barbara’s exclusive enclave of Montecito. Waldron Gillespie, the scion of a wealthy New York banking family, began an architectural and horticultural revolution. The Gillespie gardens, with their European-influenced use of carefully placed terraces and reflecting pools, inspired many later California estates to break away from the concept of landscaping so prevalent in the eastern United States. Eleven years of planting trees on his property, Gillespie hired one of the most important and renowned architects of the day – Bertram Goodhue – and took him on a yearlong trip to study the buildings and gardens of Mediterranean Europe. Utterly inspired, they returned to America’s West Coast and began to build Santa Barbara’s finest Mediterranean villa and to landscape what became one of the most spectacular gardens in all of California and the United States. The property is home to the wedding of Charlie Chaplain, along with certain scenes of the film 'Scarface,' and rumor has it that the Kennedy's visited the estate during their honeymoon.
