The George Washington Smith portraits are archived in the Lutah Maria Riggs collection; since she was his protege who worked in his firm up until his death in 1930.
The unincorporated community of Hope Ranch was developed in the early 1920s by the Santa Barbara Estates Inc. company, which was owned by Harold Chase, and Peter Bryce was one of the main stakeholders. Bryce was also one of the early residents, with…
George Washington Smith was commissioned by Alfred Dietrich, an heir to an oil manufacturing fortune who also owned a railroad line, to design servants quarters and a garage for his property on Park Lane. This smaller house was built prior to the…
The Malcolm Douglas house on Sycamore Canyon Road in Montecito was completed in 1929, and is also known as Los Suenos ("The Dreams"). Douglas, a New York doctor, and his wife, Rachel Peabody Douglas, had Smith design a house to showcase the view of…
The Wesley Gallagher house was a Smith commission just prior to his death in 1930. The Smith files contain these sketches and drawings (most done in Riggs' hand) for preliminary elevations for the house. The Riggs files contain the actual working…
The E. Palmer Gavit residence was originally built in 1919 by Reginald Johnson; Smith designed an addition to the main house, as well as outbuildings. The property was originally named "Cuesta Linda," then "Tanglewood," and eventually Madame Ganna…
The Carpenteria beach house for Albert Keep Isham was a Moorish inspired estate directly on the beach. Smith also constructed a natatorium, which was done in an "Islamic" style and contained a large number of decorative tiles around the swimming pool…
This large Spanish Colonial Revival mansion in the small town of Woodside was built for copper mining magnate Daniel Cowan Jackling and his family. The 17,000 square foot house sat on a 194 acre parcel of land. The property was subdivided and all but…
The Lobero Theater on Canon Perdido and Anacapa Streets in downtown Santa Barbara, got its start in the 1870s as a vaudeville house. By the early 1920s, it had fallen into disrepair and Smith was asked to design and build a new theater in the Spanish…
This house for Robert VanWyck Maverick was one of only two houses Smith built in Texas. It was considered one of the best examples of a courtyard-centered house at the time of its construction. The plan for the house was U-shaped, with a fourth wall…
George Fox Steedman was a manufacturing executive from St. Louis who commissioned Smith to work with him on designing and constructing Casa del Herrero (House of the Blacksmith) on East Valley Road in Montecito. They created a house and gardens…