Lauding Lutah

Six years after its world premiere at the Lobero, the theater she designed, animal activist Gretchen Lieff‘s award-winning documentary on Santa Barbara architect Lutah Maria Riggs, had a sold-out reprise showing as gale-force winds blew.

Having attended the first event – I am even mentioned in the credits – it was nice to see such a turnout to commemorate the first licensed female architect in the city, who died in Montecito in 1984 aged 87.

Lutah worked as a draftsman for George Washington Smith, who designed many of our rarefied enclave’s iconic estates, and later became a partner in the firm. She was also a set designer for MGM and Warner Brothers during World War II.

After the showing, journalist Robert Adams interviewed architects Marc Appleton and Dawn Ziemer, and Melinda Gandara, Riggs’s archivist, on stage.

Among the guests were John Woodward, Martha Gray, Miles Hartfeld, Betsy Craig, Gwyn Lurie, Dacia Harwood, Lisa Osborne, Ken Pfeiffer, Petra Beumer, Yvonne Michod, Marty and Wendy Holtzman, Valerie Burns, Alan Macy, Patricia Schwartz, and Grant House.