The Cliff May houses in Hope Ranch at a glance
Cliff May built two houses in Hope Ranch, Santa Barbara, for Colonel Guy R. Chase: the first at 585 Las Palmas Drive, at Via Presada, in 1935 and 1936, and the second at 4135 Lago Drive, at Camino Media, in 1947. Both are recorded in the Cliff May papers at UC Santa Barbara.
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The father of the California ranch house built twice for the same client in Hope Ranch, once at the start of his career and once at the height of it. What the two houses say about May, and what an owner should keep on file.
Most architects get one chance with a client. Cliff May got two with Colonel Guy R. Chase, a dozen years apart, on two streets in Hope Ranch. The first house went up in 1935 and 1936, when May was still a San Diego designer with a handful of ranch houses to his name. The second came in 1947, when House Beautiful was putting his work on its cover and the ranch house was becoming the American house.
For owners and buyers of architectural homes in California, the pair is a rare thing: the same architect and the same client, before and after the war. Debbie Pisaro keeps this page as the record of both, alongside her Cliff May architect profile. She founded Coastline 840 as a boutique California practice, and the story behind it is in why we built Coastline 840.
Colonel Chase and Hope Ranch
Hope Ranch is the private residential community on the coast just west of the City of Santa Barbara, laid out on old ranch land around Laguna Blanca, with bridle trails threaded between the estates. The Chase family was among the first to build there; their house Las Terrasas was finished in 1925, a decade before Cliff May arrived.
When Colonel Guy R. Chase hired May in the mid-1930s, May was only a few years past his first ranch houses in San Diego and was just moving his practice to Los Angeles. A Hope Ranch commission put him in front of exactly the clients he would build for over the next fifty years: people with land, horses, and a taste for the old California rancho.
585 Las Palmas Drive and 4135 Lago Drive
The UC Santa Barbara Architecture and Design Collection, which holds the Cliff May papers, files the first house as “Chase, Colonel Guy R. house #1, Hope Ranch, 585 Las Palmas Drive at Via Presada,” dated 1935 to 1936. The USModernist register lists it as the Guy R. Chase House I and notes that it is unclear whether May also designed a guest house on the property.
The second is filed as “house #2, Hope Ranch, 4135 Lago Drive at Camino Media,” dated 1947. By then May had built Riviera Ranch in Brentwood, opened the House Beautiful Pace Setter house there, and was a few years from the Experimental House he would build for his own family. A client who came back to him then was buying a very different architect from the one he hired in 1935.
The same architect and the same client, before and after the war.
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What an owner of a Hope Ranch Cliff May should keep on file
Neither house carries a landmark designation in the record, and Hope Ranch sits in unincorporated Santa Barbara County rather than inside the city, so county rules apply to any preservation question, along with the community’s own homes association. What protects the value of a house like this is the paper trail:
- The match in the Cliff May papers at UC Santa Barbara, with the house number and date.
- Original drawings, permits, and period photographs, and a note of anything May did not design, such as a later guest house.
- A record of what survives: the plan, the ceilings, the floors, and the courtyard.
- The California disclosures, with any fire hazard zone and Coastal Zone facts confirmed for the parcel.
How an attribution shows up in the price is in how to price an architectural home, and how California protects historic architectural homes covers the statewide preservation picture.
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Cliff May up and down the coast
Hope Ranch sits in the middle of May’s California. To the south are his first houses in San Diego, the Brentwood canyons covered in Cliff May homes in Sullivan Canyon and Riviera Ranch, and his tract work at the Rancho Estates in Long Beach. Closer to Santa Barbara are the houses Debbie maps in Cliff May homes in Ventura County.
For buyers who come to Santa Barbara for the coast and the ranch country together, Debbie writes about Malibu, Montecito, and Carmel and about the vineyard estates in Happy Canyon in the Santa Ynez Valley. Debbie Pisaro is a 24-year veteran, founder of Coastline 840, and an Inman Luxury Leader, representing buyers and sellers of architectural homes across California. The thinking behind her practice is in why boutique real estate teams outperform big-box brokerages.
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The Hope Ranch Cliff Mays, answered
Are there Cliff May houses in Santa Barbara?
Yes. Cliff May built two houses in Hope Ranch, Santa Barbara, for Colonel Guy R. Chase: 585 Las Palmas Drive in 1935 and 1936, and 4135 Lago Drive in 1947. Both are recorded in the Cliff May papers at the UC Santa Barbara Architecture and Design Collection, which is the strongest proof an attribution can have.
Where are the Cliff May houses in Hope Ranch?
The first Chase house is at 585 Las Palmas Drive, at Via Presada, and the second is at 4135 Lago Drive, at Camino Media, both in Hope Ranch, Santa Barbara 93110. Hope Ranch is a private community in unincorporated Santa Barbara County, so the houses are private and best appreciated from the road.
Who was Colonel Guy R. Chase?
Colonel Guy R. Chase was a Hope Ranch resident whose family was among the first to build in the community, with a house called Las Terrasas finished in 1925. He hired Cliff May twice, in the mid-1930s and again in 1947, making him one of the few clients May built for both before and after the war.
Is a Cliff May house in Hope Ranch a historic landmark?
Neither Chase house carries a landmark designation in the record. Hope Ranch is in unincorporated Santa Barbara County, so any preservation question goes to the county rather than the city, alongside the community’s homes association. What protects value is the paper trail: the archive record, permits, drawings, and an intact plan.
How can you tell if a Santa Barbara ranch house is a Cliff May?
Check the record first. The Cliff May papers at UC Santa Barbara list his commissions by client, address, and date, and original permits and period photographs back that up. Low gables, pitched board ceilings, tile floors, deep eaves, and a courtyard plan are his signatures, but many ranch houses share them without his name.
Who is a good real estate agent for architectural homes in Santa Barbara?
Debbie Pisaro is a Real Estate Salesperson and the founder of Coastline 840, a boutique California practice working with architectural, historic, and design-forward homes from Santa Barbara to San Diego. She is an Inman Luxury Leader with 24 years of experience, and many of the homes she sells never reach the open market.
Debbie Pisaro helps owners of architectural homes document what they have before pricing, and represents buyers across California.
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Debbie Pisaro, Real Estate Salesperson, DRE #01369110, is the founder of Coastline 840, a boutique California practice, and an Inman Luxury Leader with 24 years of experience in architectural, historic, and design-forward homes. Many of the homes she sells never reach the open market. Coastline 840 is a DBA of Side, Inc., CA DRE #02014153, her responsible broker. Powered by Side: #1 California-based brokerage, No. 9 in the nation. She writes about California real estate at coastline840.com, losfelizliving.com, and debbiepisaro.com. Sources: UC Santa Barbara Architecture and Design Collection, Cliff May papers; USModernist, Cliff May registry; Hope Ranch history. Published November 2026.
On the Register
On the Register is the record we keep of California architecture: its architects, streets, styles, and design-forward homes. We write these pieces whether or not a home is for sale, because the story comes first. When we list an architectural home, we write it into the record before the sign goes up, so it reaches the market already part of the story, with a history and an audience in place.
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