Barton Myers’ steel house in Montecito: safe for now
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When images of the Tea fire raging in and around Santa Barbara first began appearing on television and the Web last night, some of us wondered almost instantly about the fate of the house and studio that architect Barton Myers designed for himself and his wife, Victoria, on a hillside lot in Montecito. The 1998 house, a spare steel pavilion located in Toro Canyon, was devised very much with fire prevention in mind; its flame-retardant features include roll-down steel shutters and shallow reflecting pools on the roof.
When we reached Victoria by phone this morning, she told us, sounding very much relieved, that the house was undamaged and that, in fact, prevailing winds overnight kept the blaze about five miles away, to the west.
More pictures of the house can be seen here.
We’ll have updates on other architecturally significant houses in the fire area as they arrive.
--Christopher Hawthorne
