Recent events have put many residents of Santa Barbara and Montecito under pressure to document the structures on their property. Whether these buildings are houses that were lost or damaged in the mudslides or structures such as garages, sheds, and pool houses that homeowners wish to repurpose as fully licensed and legal ADUs, the AIA Santa Barbara’s Archives facility on the appropriately named Camino del Remedio can help.
The staff of the archives offers assistance with finding and understanding plans and can help with clarifying the process of permitting new work. The archives are a tremendous resource to homeowners and their architects, providing background information necessary in the preparation of drawings for house renovation and addition permits. The archive of drawings for Santa Barbara County is an especially important resource in times of natural disasters such as those we have recently experienced in the county. Victims of such events are offered copies of plans free of charge.
The Santa Barbara chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIASB) established the Architectural Archives in 1971. They were founded by area architect Kenneth Kruger, FAIA, to preserve and offer access to residential drawings that had been accumulating in storage facilities at the building departments of the county and city of Santa Barbara. Growth throughout Santa Barbara County at the time resulted in a rapid accumulation of as-built plans, which prompted the AIASB to make accommodations for their preservation. An easy-access resource such as this, available to residents, was rare at the time and remains a valuable resource to this day.