The houses are called the Moody cottages, about three dozen pixie homes built in the 1930s and '40s (and scattered on other streets as well other than Periwinkle) by sisters Harriet, Mildred, Brenda and Wilma Moody. These four unmarried ladies who, long before it was permitted or expected, created vital careers in Santa Barbara in design and planning, banking, art, cottage development and construction.
The Moody sisters made full use of windows, beams, doors and other house parts salvaged from large homes being torn down after the Depression to save on property taxes. These recycling efforts only gave their already fanciful creations further character and charm. Ceilings slanted to an extreme, windows irregularly sized and rooms configured in odd shapes, the homes are whimsical -- if now downright eccentric.Today these cottages -- mere dollhouses when compared with Montecito mansions -- continue to command serious money. Three Moody cottages on the market recently were listed at $1,695,000 to $2,595,000, putting their price per square foot about 20% higher than the average per-square-foot sales price for other properties in the same ZIP Code.
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My daughter and friend and I went to Periwinkle Street in Montecito to check out the houses. Fast forward to a half an hour and several miles. We were walking up State Street and a woman Walk Beside Me and said and I quote what are what were you looking for on Periwinkle Street? She had to have followed us because it was the same woman we saw in a window staring down at us when we were checking out the architecture. I said we were looking for a house but didn't find it. She stated isn't it strange that we ended up in the same spot? I said very strange! I don't know why she followed us that far to ask me why we are on Periwinkle Street. I didn't know she had anything to hide I figured she was a jealous wife and suspicious of everyone. With that she was gone and we didn't see where she went very very odd
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