Oprah Winfrey's House
Montecito, CA
The Story
Oprah Winfrey ran The Oprah Winfrey Show for 25 seasons, from 1986 to 2011, and launched the OWN network the year it ended. Her first film role, in The Color Purple, drew an Oscar nomination.
The main house is a Cliff May design. May's California ranch house ran long and low-roofed, and this one turns its deck out toward the paddocks.
May designed about 1,000 buildings between 1931 and 1986, most of them ranch houses. He tried the type on himself first, in a 1932 San Diego house, the first of 5 for his family.
John Charles Pritzlaff Jr. and Mary Dell Olin Pritzlaff bought the farm in 1977. She raised champion hackney ponies here and rebuilt the riding facilities; he planted the fruit orchards.
The Olin family trust took sealed bids in November 2015, the first time in nearly 40 years the farm had been on the market. Escrow closed on February 5, 2016.
The county has recorded no transfer on the parcel since that February 2016 deed. It still carries a rancho estates land use, while the houses around it are classed as single-family lots.
The paddocks, covered stalls, and riding areas came with the sale. The horses did not, and Oprah walked the property several times, with inspectors, before she put in the winning bid.
The Facts
- Est. value
- $28,800,000
- Last sold
- $28,800,000in 2016
Address
Montecito, CA
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Sources
- Santa Barbara County Assessor, public parcel feature service (APN 007-280-047)
- Santa Barbara County Assessor, both parcels conveyed on document 2016005628
- CNN, “What's Oprah Winfrey's grand plan for $29M equestrian farm?” (February 10, 2016)
- The Hollywood Reporter, “Oprah Winfrey Buys 23-Acre Montecito Horse Farm for $28M” (Natalie Stone, February 5, 2016)
- Sage Auctions LLC via Send2Press Newswire, “First Time on Market in Almost 40 Years” (October 9, 2015) — the seller's own auction announcement
- The Equine Chronicle, “Oprah Winfrey Purchases CA Horse Farm For $28,850,000” (February 15, 2016, PRNewswire release from Sage Auctions)
- UC Santa Barbara Art, Design & Architecture Museum, Architecture and Design Collection — “Carefree California: Cliff May and the Romance of the Ranch House,” San Diego section
- UC Santa Barbara AD&A Museum, “Carefree California” exhibition overview (holds the Cliff May archive; exhibition ran February to June 2012)
- Noozhawk, “Mary Dell Olin Pritzlaff of Santa Barbara, 1929-2015” (family obituary, July 23, 2015)
- Wikipedia, Oprah Winfrey (biographical context only)