The Home Page | A Whale of a Tale on a Sunday in July

Last Sunday, I devoted most of this space to the only “floating home” in the Santa Barbara Harbor known as the Thomas Jefferson. The same day that you were reading about it here, I was being introduced to yet another iconic local residence: the Whale House at 999 Andante Road. I had about 500 words to describe it in print for this week’s issue, but there’s so much more to show and tell, so I thought I’d share a few more details here.

There are more than 270 Belgian leaded and stained-glass windows in this house. Even the “plain” windows are interestingly shaped, partnered with unique hardware, or both. The nature-scape window above is located in the primary bathroom on the second floor, overlooking a similar scene outside. Just a few feet away, dramatic blue and red waves surround one entrance to the rock-walled hot tub, shown below:

Upstairs is another bedroom with a much more traditional tub. While it could almost be overlooked in this spectacular house, it would be a noteworthy highlight in any other residence.

The third-story treetop view is jaw-dropping — remember, this tub is in the very tippy-top of the whale’s “head.” This was about the point in the tour where I stopped taking photos. The details were so mesmerizing that I knew I couldn’t adequately capture them. I did snap this one looking up the stairway into the “blowhole” that opens to the sky:

You’ll have to use your imagination a little bit, but the geometric design alone is worth ogling. This next architectural gem took a little guesswork to identify. Inset into the Venetian plaster wall of the living room is a small glass-fronted space big enough for just one person. You can see my friend Tonea posing in it here:

We decided that it must have been a phone booth. Imagine a party going on — and you KNOW there would be parties going on in the whale! — and if you needed a quick private space to make a phone call, you could pop in here. We found the remnants of a phone jack as evidence to back up our suspicions. 

The Whale House likely won’t be on the market long. I feel fortunate to have been able to traipse from its mouth through its belly and all the way to the tail last Sunday. Who knows what I’ll find today. Have fun on your own adventures!