Santa Barbara Landmarks Series:
The Courthouse - Hall of Records

hall of records santa barbara courthouse britt jewett

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Santa Barbara Landmarks Series:
Reginald Johnson and the Post Office

Santa Barara Post Office by architect Reginald Johnson

At first glance, the Santa Barbara U.S. Post Office comes off as just another example of Mission Revival with its stucco walls and terra cotta tiled roof, but look closer and you’ll see that it’s so much more...

Designed in the mid-1930s, the Post Office was Reginald Johnson’s final commission, and upon its completion in 1937, he announced his retirement as an architect. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, and maintains much of the original look, with only minimal changes made to the interior. Amazingly, the exterior, including the original landscaping, remains unchanged.

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Santa Barbara Landmarks Series:
Reginald Johnson and the Biltmore Hotel

Biltmore Hotel in Santa Barbara - Ivy on Stucco Wall - DLG Lighting Co.

While architect Reginald Johnson focused the latter part of his career on affordable housing, being influenced by the onset of the Great Depression, he was first known for his luxurious residences in Montecito and Pasadena. Certainly amongst the most masterful of his projects was the historic Biltmore Hotel on Butterfly Beach.

 In 1926 when the Bowman-Biltmore Hotels Corporation hired Johnson to design the hotel, the popularity of the Mediterranean and Spanish Colonial Revival movements was at a high. Incorporating the characteristics of these two movements, with Moorish Revival traits added to the mix, resulted in the unique amalgamation that is known to this day simply as the Biltmore.

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