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 (, meaning ) 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 Coast of the United States excepting A ...

, and for popularizing the

Spanish Colonial Revival The Spanish Colonial Revival architecture (), often known simply as Spanish Revival, is a term used to encompass a number of revivalist architectural styles based in both Spanish colonial architecture and Spanish architecture in general. Thes ...

style in early 20th-century America. His notable works include Casa del Herrero, the Lobero Theater, the ''

Santa Barbara News-Press The ''Santa Barbara News-Press'' was a broadsheet newspaper based in Santa Barbara, California. It was founded in 1868 as the ''Post'' and merged with the rival ''News'' to form the ''News-Press'' in 1932. On July 21, 2023, it filed for bankrupt ...

'' building, and buildings at the Santa Barbara Cemetery. 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, in 1876 (on George Washington's birthday), the son of a prominent Pennsylvania engineer. Raised in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, he was able to study painting at the

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum ...

. Later, he attended

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

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 Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work introduced new modes of representation, influenced avant-garde artistic movements of the early 20th century a ...

and

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influ ...

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

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

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 (Ashcan School), T ...

and

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

. His work gained notice and was soon being exhibited outside New York as well, at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington D.C., the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

. 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 built for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition to exhibit works of art. Completely rebuilt from 1964 to 197 ...

at San Francisco's Panama Pacific Exposition.

Architectural career

While in California, Smith 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 ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

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, Smith was one of the most popular architects in the United States, his homes appearing in leading architecture and interior design magazines. He 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. 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. The clubhouse at Cypress Point Club on the Monterey Peninsula was designed by George Washington Smith and opened in 1929. It was decorated by Francis McComas and Frances Elkins and is mostly unchanged from the original design.

Legacy

Smith's 21st Montecito house, Casa del Herrero (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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

. 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 deconstruction

Smith's name returned to public view in the 2000s after

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Comput ...

founder

Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American businessman, inventor, and investor best known for co-founding the technology company Apple Inc. Jobs was also the founder of NeXT and chairman and majority shareholder o ...

purchased a George Washington Smith home in

Woodside, California Woodside is a incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. It has a council–manager system of government. The population of the town was 5,309 at the 2020 census. The town's population ha ...

. Jobs purchased the 1925

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 October 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 (; , 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 popular surf destin ...

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 * Santa Barbara Cemetery 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 *

, Woodside, 1925 * Cunningham House, Montecito, 1925 * Eichheim House, Montecito, 1922–25 * Steedman House, " Casa del Herrero", 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 Lane, 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 Stanley Gebhard (21 July 1927 – 3 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: 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

External links

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