Ethel Barrymore, the late empress of stage & screen, once told a friend, “Fortunate indeed is the person who can live in Santa Barbara, and doubly blessed if his home is located in Mission Canyon.”
Newcomers during the 1850’s were quick to appreciate the sylvan beauty of Mission Canyon, and they began to move in and build home. Above them were a series of rocky cascades known as The Seven Falls. Homes in Mission Canyon range from the humble adobe, to magnificent mansions like Glendessary, on the shady lane of the same name. This sprawling half timbered Tudor manor house was one of the fine homes built before the turn of the century by Christoph Tornoe, a gifted Danish artisan.