Architect and engineer (1930) (14753382986)

George Washington Smith (February 22, 1876 – March 16, 1930) was an American architect and painter. He is known particularly for his work around

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning " Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West ...

, and for popularizing the

Spanish Colonial Revival The Spanish Colonial Revival Style ( es, Arquitectura neocolonial española) is an architectural stylistic movement arising in the early 20th century based on the Spanish Colonial architecture of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. In the ...

style in early 20th Century America. His notable works include

Casa del Herrero Casa del Herrero (also known as the Steedman Estate) is a historic house museum and botanical garden located in Montecito near Santa Barbara, California. It was designed by George Washington Smith, and is considered one of the finest examples o ...

, the Lobero Theater, the

Santa Barbara News-Press The ''Santa Barbara News-Press'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Santa Barbara, California. History The oldest predecessor (the weekly Santa Barbara ''Post'') of the ''News-Press'' started publishing on May 30, 1868. The Santa Barbara ''Pos ...

building, and buildings at the

Santa Barbara Cemetery Santa Barbara Cemetery is a cemetery located at 901 Channel Drive in Santa Barbara, California. Founded in 1867, it serves as a nonsectarian cemetery. Notable interments * Heather Angel (1909-1986), actress * Peter J. Barber (1830-1905), archite ...

. He also designed several private houses in Montecito.

Life

Early life, bond trading, and art career

George Washington Smith was born in

East Liberty, Pennsylvania East Liberty is a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's East End. It is bordered by Highland Park, Morningside, Stanton Heights, Garfield, Friendship, Shadyside and Larimer, and is represented on Pittsburgh City Council by Councilwoman ...

in 1876 (on George Washington's birthday), the son of a prominent Pennsylvania engineer. Raised in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

, he was able to study painting at the

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appa ...

. Later, he attended

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher ...

to study architecture, but was unable to graduate due to his family's financial difficulties. He obtained employment as a draftsman in a Philadelphia architectural firm but was unsatisfied with the lifestyle this afforded him. Smith turned to bond trading and quickly became very successful. His success in the bond markets allowed him to quit work in 1911 to devote himself to painting and the study of art. He married Mary Catherine Greenough and the couple moved to Europe. An admirer of the works of

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically d ...

and

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

, Smith traveled around the continent painting landscapes, as well as studying in Rome and at the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number ...

in Paris. The Smiths spent three years in Europe, returning to the United States at the outbreak of World War I. Establishing himself in New York, Smith began exhibiting with other painters of the era, including

John Sloan John French Sloan (August 2, 1871 – September 7, 1951) was an American painter and etcher. He is considered to be one of the founders of the Ashcan school of American art. He was also a member of the group known as The Eight. He is best known ...

and

George Bellows George Wesley Bellows (August 12 or August 19, 1882 – January 8, 1925) was an American realist painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City. He became, according to the Columbus Museum of Art, "the most acclaimed Ame ...

. His work gained notice and was soon being exhibited outside New York as well, at the

Corcoran Gallery The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Desi ...

in Washington D.C., the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

. In 1915 Smith traveled to California, where his paintings were to be on display in the

Palace of Fine Arts The Palace of Fine Arts is a monumental structure located in the Marina District of San Francisco, California, originally constructed for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition to exhibit works of art. Completely rebuilt from 1964 t ...

at San Francisco's

Panama Pacific Exposition Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cost ...

Architectural career

While in California, he visited friends from Philadelphia who had relocated to Montecito, a rustic suburb of Santa Barbara. Still intending to return to Europe at the close of the war, he decided to remain in California for the duration. He purchased land in Montecito and designed and built a home and studio. He modeled the home after farmhouses he had seen in

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...

during a trip to Spain in 1914. The house he built in 1917, called ''Casa Dracaena'' (a.k.a. ''El Hogar'' and Heberton House), was an immediate success. Images of it were used to sell cement and tiles among other goods, and Smith quickly found that his neighbors wanted to live in houses like it. Before long he stopped painting and took up working as an architect full-time in Santa Barbara. His plans to return to Europe after the war were abandoned, and he remained in the Santa Barbara area for the remainder of his life. Before his death in 1930 Smith designed some 80 homes in Santa Barbara County alone, and worked nationwide. In his time, George Washington Smith was one of the most popular architects in the United States, his homes appearing in leading architecture and interior design magazines. Smith is sometimes credited with being the "father" of the Spanish-Colonial Revival style in the United States, although he worked in other idioms as well. Despite his popularity in his era, Smith is not widely recognized today, though his homes remain popular and several are on the

National Register The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. His original Montecito home, as well as "Casa del Greco", his second self-designed residence next door, built in 1920, exist today as family residences. Two additional Smith designs were built in Hope Ranch in the mid-1920s: Meadow Farm for Milton Wilson, now name

Robledal, and Florestal, originally built for the Peter Cooper Bryce family.

Legacy

Smith's 21st Montecito house,

(House of the Blacksmith), built for St. Louis industrialist George Steedman in 1922, is now a museum. Most of Smith's original sketches and drawings and much of his correspondence are held at the Architecture and Design Collection of the Art Museum at the

University of California, 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 U ...

. The house is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The house is owned by the non-profit Casa del Herrero foundation, and can be visited by appointment. Also listed on the National Register is Santa Barbara's Lobero Theater, completely rebuilt to Smith's design in 1924.

Jackling House controversy

Smith's name returned to public view in the 2000s after Apple Inc. founder

Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; ...

purchased a George Washington Smith home in

Woodside, California Woodside is a small incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. Woodside is among the wealthiest communities in the United States, home to many technology billionaires and investment mana ...

. Jobs purchased the 1926

Jackling House The Jackling House was a mansion in Woodside, California, designed and built for copper mining magnate Daniel Cowan Jackling and his family by noted California architect George Washington Smith in 1925. Though it was considered a historic home, ...

in 1984, and generated an uproar after winning approval from the Woodside city council to tear the house down in 2004. That decision was overturned in 2006. Jobs appealed the court decision to the California State Court of Appeals, but that court agreed with the lower court ruling in 2007. Jobs, who has described the house as "poorly built," " ot..very interesting," and in poor taste, was granted a demolition permit in May 2009 by the Woodside Town Council, with the condition that he allow investor Gordon Smythe to disassemble the building and move it to another location. Smythe intends to live in it with his wife and young children.Bryce, Dave. PaloAltoOnline.com, June 24, 2009
''Council reaches agreement on Jackling house: Steve Jobs granted conditional permit to tear down house built in 1925''
/ref> On Valentine's Day, 2011, deconstruction commenced on the Jackling House. Jobs died of pancreatic cancer on Oct 5, 2011 and never completed the proposed replacement building.

Selected works

These works are listed with photographs and brief descriptions in Andree and Young, ''Santa Barbara Architecture''. Smith primarily designed houses in the wealthy enclave of Montecito, with some commercial buildings in Santa Barbara, and a few projects in

Carpinteria Carpinteria (; es, Carpintería, meaning "Carpentry") is a small seaside city in southeastern Santa Barbara County, California. Located on the Central Coast of California, it had a population of 13,264 at the 2020 census. Carpinteria is a po ...

and Hope Ranch. Addresses are in Santa Barbara unless otherwise listed.

Commercial and institutional buildings

These buildings were all designed in a Spanish Colonial Revival style. * General Offices, 22 W. Micheltorena, 1926 * Lobero Theater, 33 E. Canon Perdido, 1922–24 *

Buildings, E. Cabrillo, 1924–25 * Clubhouses, 27 E. Carrillo, 1926 *

Building, De La Guerra Plaza, 1924 * Meridian Court, 112-116 De La Guerra, 1923

Spanish Colonial Revival houses

* Smith-Heberton House "El Hogar", Montecito, 1916 * Smith House "Casa del Greco", Montecito, 1920 * Parshall House, "Quatros Vistos", 1920 * Wright House, 1919 Las Tunas Road, 1921 * Courtney House, "Ravenscroft", Montecito, 1922 * Burke House, 1829 Mission Ridge, 1922–23 * Frothingham House, 232 E. Los Olivos, 1922 * Cunningham House, Montecito, 1925 * Eichheim House, Montecito, 1922–25 * Steedman House, "

", 1922–25 * Casserly House, Montecito, 1925 * Douglas House, "Los Suenos", Montecito, 1928–29 * Isham Beachhouse, Carpinteria, 1927 * Bryce House, Hope Ranch, 1926

Medieval English and French houses

* S. R. Wagner House, "Ty-Gwyn", Montecito, 1925 * Wagner House, Montecito, 1923 * Gladwin House, Montecito, 1923 * Cudahy House, Montecito, 1928–29 * Cudahy Estate Garage, Montecito, 1928–29 * Second Canby House, Montecito, 1928 * Stark House, 1709 Overlook Drive, 1926

Mediterranean houses

* Stewart House, "Il Brolino", Montecito, 1923

Italian houses

* Johnson-Donohue House, "La Toscana, 1927–28

Notes

Sources

Pacific Coast Architecture Database

Bibliography

* Andree, Herb, and Noel Young. ''Santa Barbara Architecture: from Spanish Colonial to Modern''. Second edition. With photographs by Wayne McCall and an introduction by

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 ...

. Santa Barbara: Capra Press, 1980. * *Gebhard, Patricia
''George Washington Smith: Architect of the Spanish-Colonial Revival''
Gibbs Smith, 2005. *Guglielmo, Connie. Bloomberg.com, February 27, 2006
''Apple's Jobs Fights Preservationists Who Want to Save His House''
*Hewitt, Mark Alan. ''The Architect and the American Country House. New Haven and London.'' Yale University Press. 1990. *Herold, Ann. ''The Los Angeles Times'', February 2, 2006

*Leigh, Patricia. ''The New York Times'', July 24, 2004
''The battle to preserve the house that Steve Jobs bought: Apple chief wants to tear down this 'abomination' ''
*Serratore, Angela. ''Preservation Magazine'', May 7, 2009

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, George Washington Architects from California Spanish Colonial Revival architects Mediterranean Revival architects Spanish Revival architects 19th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists American male painters 20th-century American painters People from Santa Barbara, California Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni Montecito, California Santa Barbara, California 1876 births 1930 deaths Architects from Pennsylvania Painters from California Painters from Pennsylvania 20th-century American architects Burials at Santa Barbara Cemetery 20th-century American male artists