David Stanley Gebhard (21 July 1927 – 3 March 1996) was a leading architectural historian, particularly known for his books on the

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

and

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

s of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He was a long-time faculty member at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

, and was dedicated to the

preservation Preservation may refer to: Heritage and conservation * Preservation (library and archival science), activities aimed at prolonging the life of a record while making as few changes as possible * ''Preservation'' (magazine), published by the Nat ...

of Santa Barbara architecture. Gebhard was also known for his archaeological work recording and documenting the multiple styles of pictographs in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands on the border of Texas and Mexico.

Early life

Gebhard was born in

Cannon Falls, Minnesota Cannon Falls is a city in Goodhue County, Minnesota, Goodhue County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 4,083 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Located along U.S. Route 52 in Minnesota, U.S. Route 52, southeast of the Min ...

, to Walter J. Gebhard (1895–1980), a well equipment manufacturer, and Ann K. Olson (1898–1978). Gebhard received his Ph.D. at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

in 1958. While finishing his doctorate, he served, for six years, as director of the Roswell Museum and Art Center in

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, before moving to UC Santa Barbara in 1961.

Career

As a teacher he inspired many students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. In addition to his long teaching career, he served as director of the University Art Museum for twenty years, building a small gallery into a significant accredited university museum. In this position, he initiated the Architectural Drawings Collection, now one of the leading West Coast repositories for architectural materials. With Robert Winter he co-authored guides to architecture in northern and

southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

. In 1958, David Gebhard, along with John Graham, W.A. Davis, and Edward B. Jelks were hired to lead an archaeological survey in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of Texas and Mexico prior to the construction of Lake Amistad. The

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

funded the Diablo Reservoir Rock Art Survey in which the crew documented over 200 archaeological sites. During the survey, he identified a new rock art style known as the "Red Linear style." Gebhard was also active in service to his community, serving for many years on the

Santa Barbara County Santa Barbara County, officially the County of Santa Barbara (), is a county located in Southern California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa M ...

Architectural Board of Review. He was active in 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, Illinois, United States, the Society's 3,500 members inc ...

, and served a term as its president in the 1980s.

Death and legacy

Gebhard died on 3 March 1996 of a heart attack while bicycling near his house in Santa Barbara, California, which he had designed in 1967.Myrna Oliver, "David Gebhard; architectural historian," ''Los Angeles Times'' (6 March 1996), p. 164. The David Gebhard Memorial Lecture Series is an annual event sponsored by Pasadena Heritage, an architectural preservation organization in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, 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 commerci ...

Selected publications

1960s

* ''Prehistoric Paintings of the Diablo Region, A Preliminary Report'', Roswell Museum and Art Center, Roswell NM 1960. * ''A Guide to the Existing Buildings of Purcell and Elmslie, 1910–1920'', Roswell Museum and Art Center, Roswell NM 1960.

1970s

* ''Charles F. A. Voysey'', Hennessey & Ingalls, Los Angeles 1975, * ''A Guide to the Architecture of Minnesota'', University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis MN 1977 (With Tom Martinson) * ''The Guide to Architecture in Los Angeles and Southern California'', Peregrine Smith, Santa Barbara 1977, (joint author)

1980s

* ''Rudolf Schindler, Architect'' Viking Press, New York 1972, ; reprint Peregrine Smith, Santa Barbara 1980, * ''The Guide to Architecture in San Francisco and Northern California'', Gibbs M. Smith Books, Salt Lake City 1985, (joint author) * ''California Romanza: Frank Lloyd Wright in California'', Chronicle Books, San Francisco 1988, * ''Los Angeles in the Thirties, 1931–1941'', Peregrine Smith, Layton UT 1975, reprint Hennessey & Ingalls, Los Angeles 1989, (With Harriette Von Breton) **

1990s

* ''Lutah Maria Riggs: A Woman in Architecture, 1921–1980'', Capra Press and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara 1992, * ''Buildings of Iowa'', Oxford University Press, New York, 1993 (With Gerald Mansheim) * ''Robert Stacy Judd: Maya Architecture, The Creation of a New Style'', Capra Press, Santa Barbara 1993, (photos by Anthony Peres) * ''The National Trust Guide to Art Deco in America'', Wiley, New York; Preservation Press, Washington DC 1996,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gebhard, David 1927 births 1996 deaths American architecture writers American architectural historians University of California, Santa Barbara faculty University of Minnesota alumni Writers from Santa Barbara, California 20th-century American historians 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers Historians from California