The Riven Rock enclave of Montecito was popular long before Prince Harry and Meghan Markle settled there in 2020. In fact, the royal couple’s chateau sits on part of an 87-acre estate bought in the 1890s by the wealthy McCormick family, heirs to the International Harvester fortune. As chronicled in T.C. Boyle’s historical fiction novel “Riven Rock,” the family’s youngest son, Stanley McCormick, suffered a mental breakdown shortly after marrying feminist scientist Katherine Dexter. From 1908 until his death in 1947, he was largely confined to the property’s main home under specialized psychiatric care, while Katherine lived elsewhere, diligently funding research to find a cure.
The main home was razed after a 1925 earthquake, and the estate was later subdivided into 34 parcels. The famous oak tree, whose roots split a massive sandstone boulder in half and gave the place its name, has also since died. However, the legacy of the McCormick family lives on at this stylishly rebuilt ranch house within the storied neighborhood, amid picturesque stone bridges and water features that remain as vestiges of a bygone Gilded Age empire.
The current owners, Shahram and Brittany Bijan, acquired the 1958 home through a trust in 2020 for $2.7 million. The couple subsequently took it down to the studs and rebuilt it in collaboration with real estate developer and designer Xorin Balbes. Dubbed Rockbridge Oasis, for its locale on Rockbridge Road, the all-new main residence and guesthouse that stand today are now up for sale, with the Riskin Partners Estate Group of Village Properties holding the $16 million listing.
