The Santa Barbara Biltmore opened in 1927 as part of the legendary Biltmore Hotels chain. Now known as the Four Seasons Resort—The Biltmore Santa Barbara or just the Biltmore, it is a luxury hotel located in Montecito, California. Its landmark Spanish Colonial Revival architecture and gardens are on the Pacific Coast just east of Santa Barbara in Southern California, in the U.S..
The architectural design of the hotel and outdoor garden rooms is a masterful synthesis of the Mediterranean Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival and Moorish Revival styles of architecture. It was designed by architect Reginald Johnson and landscape architect Ralph Stevens in 1926-1927.[1] It was a $1,500,000 enterprise built by the Bowman-Biltmore Hotels Corporation of New York City, with a 5 March 1927 groundbreaking.[2] The 'Coral Casino' and 'Butterfly Beach' are adjacent to the Biltmore.[3]
Four Seasons Hotels bought the Santa Barbara Biltmore in 1987, later renaming it the 'Four Seasons Resort Santa Barbara.' In 2000 Ty Warner acquired ownership of the hotel through his Ty Warner Hotels & Resorts, while retaining Four Seasons as the management company. A historically sensitive major restoration and services updating followed. The historic 'Biltmore' name was added back to its moniker soon after as the 'Four Seasons Resort; The Biltmore Santa Barbara.' Locally it's always been known as just 'the Biltmore.'