“ Miravista ,” at Montecito , CW. 
The house fronts a wide 
slope broken by three ter¬ 
races, bounded by walls and 
balustrades of roughly fin¬ 
ished yellow sandstone. In 
the rear is a spacious porte 
cochere, and beyond it a 
court for the circulation of 
carriages, with seats amid 
shrubbery and formal beds of 
miscellaneous flowers. From 
the seats a view is enjoyed of 
the roof ot the house and 
portico, with their bay trees 
and vines, affording as they 
do the final touch of art in 
the combination of house and 
garden. The borders of the 
lawns were at first planted 
with the usual hardy bedding- 
plants, but later, begonias of 
many species were substituted, 
upon the watering the grass 
bloom constantly, for here, 
remark, there is no frost. 
THE PLAN 
They flourish 
requires and 
I must again 
Circles of splendid 
cannas mark the centers of the lawn upon 
each level. These flower-bordered lawns, in 
their sunny breadth, have a jewel-like effect 
amidst their dark setting of oaks and lemon 
trees. 
The uppermost terrace is of course treated 
architecturally and has a central fountain, 
while the 
house itself 
is beautifully 
set off wi th 
gay flower¬ 
ing plants, a 
few vines, 
mingling 
with the stiff 
d a r k pyra¬ 
mids of Ital¬ 
ian bays in 
tubs. Seen 
across the 
grass from 
the house 
steps,thebal- 
ustrades lift 
themselves 
above a rain¬ 
bow of color. THE POOL BEFORE THE HOUSE 
The western slopes of one 
terrace have been used as a 
resting place for the boulders 
that were removed in grading. 
Here they are gathered in 
irregular patches and con¬ 
verted into a plantation of 
aloes, cactus and rock-loving 
plants, which will soon en¬ 
velop them. Beyond the line 
of pointed junipers seen on 
the south, forty feet of the 
lemons are to be replaced 
with miscellaneous shrub¬ 
bery, such as mandarins, 
guavas, pomegranates, for 
these are all low grow¬ 
ing, shining, dark and 
clean. Acacias and genistas 
will be scattered about, 
and afford a perpetual 
succession of yellow, fragrant flowers. 
Several acres of oaks lie between the 
lemons and the eastern boundary. Through 
them the drive winds, passing at length in 
front of the terraces and then westerly 
to the house. These oaks afford a tract 
of nature’s own wild self. They are the 
haunt of wild birds; of splendid bluejays 
and woodpeckers the year round; of 
robins in winter, and wrens and sparrows 
of many kinds in spring and summer. 
Thus the 
architectural 
features of 
this house 
and garden 
lie, so to 
speak, in 
s u r r o u n d- 
ings that 
subtly blend 
the natural 
scenery o f 
the foot 
hills and 
mo u n t a i n s 
MIRAVISTA 
a c e, 
well 
compac ted 
whole. 
268 
