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Winter Wins Architectural Honor
The Southern California Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians has presented Robert Winter, Coons Professor of the History of Ideas Emeritus, with its 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award, stating that he "has surely done more to arouse interest in Southern California's architectural heritage and to inspire its preservation than any other living person.
It’s just because I’m so old,” quipped Winter, who taught at Occidental from 1963 to 1994. With the late David Gebhard, he co-authored “An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles,” now in its fifth edition. The book has long been regarded as the bible of L.A. architecture scholarship.
Winter founded SAH’s Southern California Chapter in the late 1960s to serve as a resource for area architecture buffs. Chapter membership is about 1,000 and includes academics, historians and laypeople. At 82, Winter’s enthusiasm hasn’t dimmed. “I just love architecture,” he says. “It’s mainly because I’m a social historian and I see it reflecting social drives.”
Winter has authored 11 books on various architectural styles, including “Architecture of Entertainment” (2006) and “Craftsman Style” (2004). His “At Home in the Heartland: Midwestern Domestic Architecture,” is due to be published in May. Winter lives in Pasadena in a 1909 bungalow built by master tile maker Ernest Batchelder.