Casa Dorinda is located in Montecito, an exclusive "village" community located adjacent to Santa Barbara, California. Nestled between the Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, Montecito enjoys a Mediterranean climate year-round.

Anna Dorinda Bliss, a wealthy Easterner, moved with her husband William from New York to California seeking a more beneficial climate. She brought substantial resources and a passion for fine architecture. Mrs. Bliss had visited Santa Barbara many times as a young girl and had visions of a grand "casa" in Montecito that would be a social center for the community.

Taking a personal interest in the building of her new home, Mrs. Bliss hired architect Carleton Winslow, who had designed buildings for the 1915 Exposition in San Francisco. The impressive mansion, with its ornate ironwork, sturdy walls and graceful tower rising above the third floor, with more than 80 rooms surrounding a central patio, was completed in 1918. Under Mrs. Bliss' direction, Casa Dorinda quickly became the social center she desired. Illustrious guests came to visit, including King Albert and Queen Elizabeth of Belgium, whose trip here was arranged by Herbert Hoover. Paderewski, Heifetz, Elman and many other notables of the music world enchanted audiences from the stage of Mrs. Bliss' Music Room.

After Mrs. Bliss' death in 1935, the property passed on to Mrs. Mildred Barnes Bliss, Mrs. Bliss' only daughter by her first marriage, and her husband Robert Bliss, who was William Bliss' son by his first marriage. In 1942, the Blisses offered Casa Dorinda to the Navy for use as a recuperation and recreation center. The estate was returned to the Blisses two years later.

In 1946, Dr. Homer F. Barnes purchased Casa Dorinda and opened the Montecito School for Girls. The school closed in 1956. After several more transitions, Casa Dorinda finally became available for sale as a retirement residence in 1970.

This fine mansion that was once the center of activity on Mrs. Bliss' estate is now the center of life at the Casa Dorinda retirement community.