Homeowner: Peter Cohen

Occupation: Construction Company Owner

Home Location: Santa Barbara, CA

When Peter Cohen purchased his house in 1988, he discovered that the property came with 2 feline squatters living in the yard. Growing up with dogs, and being allergic to cats, he felt it was a slightly unlikely pairing. He adopted them anyway, but while of the cats was on the mend from a car accident, he found himself adopting 2 more young kittens from the local shelter… and he was hooked. Peter built his first ramp for the cats in 1995. As he adopted more “difficult to place” cats, he realized that by creating ramps, walkways, and tunnels to join rooms together, the house could accommodate more cats, and thus he could save more of them. Since he’s a builder by trade, he wanted his home to lean into the look rather than fight it. Bright colors, tropical elements and especially trees and leaves stenciled on the walls served as design elements that would tie the cat trees and walkways together, creating a consistent theme throughout the home. There is also a coy pond that the cats seem to love, yet they’ve never bothered the fish. There are currently 24 rescue cats living with Peter. Since Peter’s home has a limit to what it can hold, Peter also founded a non-profit charity to help cats with FIP, or Feline Infectious Peritonitis, which claimed one of Peter’s first cats.

Peter’s home is designed logistically and aesthetically for both cats and humans to live together in the same space with the most freedom possible. Peter finds a great calmness and comfort from the home he’s been able to create for the creatures he fell in love with.

• Peter personally built the ramps and walkways for the first few years. As the builds became more complicated, he was fortunate enough to be able to hire experienced carpenters from his own construction company to help with more difficult builds.

• There are multiple tunnels and gateways near the ceiling that join several of the rooms. The tunnels lead to walkways throughout the house.

• Peter very recently commissioned a 14-foot new tree that’s just been built and placed in the basement. 

• TVs throughout the house are all on “Cat TV”, showing birds, squirrels, etc.

• A newly renovated guest room is the only place which the cats do not have access to. This way when Peter has company, they don’t have to be around the cats 24/7 if they want some distance.