Dr. Robert W. Winter (July 17, 1924 - February 9, 2019) was an architectural historian. He was the Arthur G. Coons Professor of the History of Ideas, Emeritus, at
Occidental College
Occidental College (informally Oxy) is a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887 as a coeducational college by clergy and members of the Presbyterian Church, it became non-sectarian in 1910. It is one of the oldes ...
,
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. He is particularly known for his contributions to the history of the California branch of the
Arts and Crafts Movement.
Early life
Winter was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1924.
He received his undergraduate degree (A.B.) from
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
and his Ph.D. from
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
.
Career
Early in his career he taught at
Dartmouth, at
Bowdoin, and at the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
. He joined the faculty at Occidental in 1963 and retired in 1994.
Winter lived in
Pasadena
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district.
Its ...
in the
Batchelder House that formerly belonged to tilemaker
Ernest Batchelder
Ernest Allan Batchelder (January 22, 1875 – August 6, 1957) was an American artist and educator who made Southern California his home in the early 20th century. He created art tiles and was a leader in the American Arts and Crafts Movement ...
, about whom he wrote the definitive Batchelder history, ''Batchelder Tilemaker'' (1999).
Winter is the author of numerous books including ''The California Bungalow'' (1980) and ''American Bungalow Style'' (1996). With Dr.
David Gebhard
David S. Gebhard (1927 – 1 March 1996) was a leading architectural historian, particularly known for his books on the architecture and architects of California. He was a long-time faculty member at the University of California, Santa Barbara ...
, of the
University of California at Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the Un ...
, he co-authored guides to architecture in Northern and Southern California. He was best known for these architectural guidebooks, especially the one for the Los Angeles Area, often referred to as "The Guide". There are 6 editions of the Los Angeles guidebook, dating from 1965, 1977, 1985, 1994, 2003 and 2018. Winter published the fifth edition after Gebhard's death in 1996 and the sixth edition, in which he collaborated with historian Robert Inman, was released in December 2018.
In 2007, Winter was made a Fellow the
Society of Architectural Historians
The Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) is an international not-for-profit organization that promotes the study and preservation of the built environment worldwide. Based in Chicago in the United States, the Society's 3,500 members include ...
.
Death
Winter died on February 9, 2019, at age 94.
Works
Authored
* Winter, Robert (photographs by Alex Vertikoff), ''American Bungalow Style'',
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...
, New York 1996,
* Winter, Robert (photographs by Alex Vertikoff), ''The Architecture of Entertainment: L.A. in the Twenties'', Gibbs Smith Publisher, Salt Lake City 2006,
* Winter, Robert, ''Batchelder: Tilemaker'',
Balcony Press, Los Angeles 1999,
* Winter, Robert, ''The California Bungalow'', Hennessey & Ingalls, Los Angeles 1980,
* Winter, Robert (photographs by Alex Vertikoff), ''Craftsman Style'',
Harry N. Abrams
Abrams, formerly Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (HNA), is an American publisher of art and illustrated books, children's books, and stationery.
The enterprise is a subsidiary of the French publisher La Martinière Groupe. Run by President and CEO Michael ...
Publishers, New York 2004,
Co-authored
* Andersen, Tim, Moore, Eudorha M. and Winter, Robert, editors, ''California Design 1910'', Peregrine Smith, Santa Barbara 1980,
*
Gebhard, David, and Winter, Robert, ''A Guide to Architecture in Los Angeles & Southern California'', Peregrine Smith, Santa Barbara 1977
* Gebhard, David, and Winter, Robert, ''Architecture in Los Angeles: A Complete Guide'', Gibbs M. Smith-Peregrine Smith Books, Salt Lake City 1985; revised and updated by Robert Winter as ''An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles'', Gibbs Smith, Salt Lake City 2003,
* Winter, Robert, editor and co-author, ''Toward a Simpler Way of Life: The Arts & Crafts Architects of California'',
University of California Press
The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...
, Berkeley 1997,
References
External links
Occidental College Faculty Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winter, Robert
1924 births
2019 deaths
American architecture writers
American male non-fiction writers
American architectural historians
Occidental College faculty
Writers from Indianapolis
Dartmouth College alumni
Johns Hopkins University alumni
Bowdoin College faculty
University of California, Los Angeles faculty