Read Ranch & Coast Virtually Anywhere
Issue link: http://ranchandcoast.uberflip.com/i/1546360
ranchandcoast.com 116 SEPTEMBER 2026 RANCH & COAST MAGAZINE I t's hard to imagine a time when Fairbanks Ranch was dirt lots just waiting to be developed, and e Ranch, too, was a land of vast opportunity for new builds. Architect Dena Gillespie, however, remembers it well. "When I drive down some road [in Rancho Santa Fe], I can say, 'When I came here, there were no houses here. When I came here, there was no country club. When I came here, there were no gated communities.' It was just amazing," she marvels. Ever humble, she credits the confluence of many elements with her successful, multi-decade career that skyrocketed in the early '80s, creating not simply homes, but architectural masterpieces found in some of the most prestigious addresses in North County. "When you look at the success of a business, it's part talent, part hard work, and part luck," she says. "I felt like I was riding a wave of growth that was occurring almost like a surfer, and so I was lucky to have been included in that space." Another, somewhat serendipitous, factor in her success, she says, is her affinity for Old World-style architecture. Gillespie credits her childhood in Kensington, surrounded by the vision and architectural style of famed San Diego architect (and Lilian Rice contemporary) Richard Requa, with her love for the Spanish Colonial Revival style. at love was cemented after driving cross-country and seeing the Spanish-influenced Santa Fe-style architecture in New Mexico and Arizona. "Most of the gated communities wanted an Old World-style look," she notes of the early days of her career. "Rancho Santa Fe Covenant wanted the old 1930s Spanish Colonial Revival, e Bridges wanted Tuscan, the Del Mar Country Club wanted An Artist's Touch A respected architect reflects on a career that grew up alongside Rancho Santa Fe BY DEANNA MURPHY Architect Dena Gillespie says she's "so lucky to be living inside my own art" of the Cardiff home she completely reimagined from the ground up