Sidney D. Gamble Lecture Series
PRESERVATION IN PRACTICE
A three-part lecture series featuring conversations about historic preservation at the Gamble House, and throughout greater Los Angeles.
THE FOUNDATION AND FUTURE OF WOMEN IN PRESERVATION PANEL DISCUSSION
Saturday, September 9, 2023 :: 10:00 a.m.
at the Pasadena Museum of History
Tickets: $10 Members | $20 Non-Members
Join Trudi Sandmeier, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at USC’s School of Architecture, in conversation with Christy McAvoy, Kelly Sutherlin McLeod, Laura Dominguez, and Rosalind Sagara as they explore the trajectory of the careers of women engaged in historic preservation in greater Los Angeles.
______________
About the participants:
Dr. Laura Dominguez is an award-winning historian of race, heritage, and placemaking in the American West. An advocate for preservation justice, she received her Ph.D. from the University of Southern California and currently serves as a Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow with the National Park Service, where she is part of an interdisciplinary team working to preserve and reinterpret landscapes associated with the Transcontinental Railroad. She previously earned a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and a master’s degree in historic preservation from USC. Laura started her career as the Communications and Programs Manager for San Francisco Heritage, where she developed educational initiatives for students and adults and led a citywide campaign for legacy businesses, and continued as the Preservation Manager for the Los Angeles Conservancy, where she oversaw efforts to document and conserve places associated with Latinx, LGBTQ, and other marginalized communities. She is a founding board member of Latinos in Heritage Conservation, a newly elected trustee of the California Preservation Foundation, and served on the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office Civic Memory Working Group from 2019 to 2021. Her writing has appeared in the Western Historical Quarterly, Journal of American History, California History, Los Angeles Times, and Lost L.A. Born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley, she now lives in Los Angeles with her husband, toddler, and dog.
Christy McAvoy began her career over five decades ago with a degree in American Social and Cultural History from UCSB, where she interned with legendary preservationist Pearl Chase. Following a stint in elementary education, where she developed LA architecture units for 3rd and 4th graders, she obtained a Master’s in Humanities/Architectural history and began to do volunteer work on the first historic survey of Hollywood. She went on to collaborate with architectural historian Leslie Heumann in a series of citywide surveys including Beverly Hills, Alhambra, West Hollywood, and Santa Monica. In 1989, she co-founded Historic Resources Group, a multidisciplinary consulting group and served as its managing principal for 25 years, coordinating the activities of architectural historians, planners, architects, and an attorney in over 500 projects. Among the first of its type, the firm provided service to governments, developers, nonprofits and other owners of historic resources—specializing in surveys, CEQA analyses, designation and resource evaluation, master plans, cultural landscapes, and tax credit rehabilitations.
Projects include Fox Studios, Paramount Pictures, the Shrine Auditorium, the Biltmore, Standard, and Casa Del Mar hotels; Scripps and Mt. St. Mary’s colleges; and affordable housing projects Downtown Women’s Center, Hollywood Bungalow Courts; Halifax Apartments, and Mary Andrews Clark Memorial Home. Entertainment venues the Wallis (Beverly Hills P.O.), Annenberg Beach House (Marian Davies Estate), Santa Anita Race Track, Chinese and Egyptian Theatres, and the Forum were among HRG’s clients. She acted as the official SHPO representative after the Northridge Earthquake, working closely with FEMA and other government agencies to repair venues like the Coliseum.
As an advocate and educator, she helped to developed and taught in USC’s Preservation Program, and served as President of the Los Angeles Conservancy and the California Preservation Foundation. She co-founded Hollywood Heritage, a local nonprofit dedicated to the preservation of Hollywood’s history and built environment. She currently serves on the Board of Advisors for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. After passing the torch at HRG, she has devoted her time to helping nonprofit owners of historic sites with rehabilitation and master planning activities.
Kelly Sutherlin McLeod, FAIA, founded her eponymous firm in 1988. KSMA’s award-winning portfolio includes preservation projects for many of the most important 20th century design masterworks in Southern California including landmark properties designed by Neutra, Schindler, Killingsworth, and Charles and Henry Greene. KSMA’s design for new construction, adaptive reuse, and preservation encompasses institutional, commercial, residential, and cultural projects. KSMA’s projects have been recognized by the AIA, DoCoMoMo, Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design, the LA Conservancy and California Preservation Foundation
KSMA elevates heritage conservation into the mainstream of international architectural discourse, through exemplary projects that advance best practices and excellence in innovative, value-based design. A nationally recognized leader in architectural preservation, Kelly promotes awareness and understanding of the conservation of culture, tradition, and place through professional, personal, and public advocacy.
Kelly has been a contributing participant of the Getty Conservation Institute’s Conserving Modern Architecture Initiative, since the program was launched, and has lectured for the USC Heritage Conservation Summer Course. Kelly serves as co-chair of the Association of Preservation Technology’s (APTi) Technical Committee on Modern Heritage and has played a key role in the committee’s numerous initiatives including educational symposiums and training workshops. Kelly currently serves as Chair of the Building and Grounds Committee for the Huntington Library, Art Collections, Botanical Gardens, is on the USC School of Architecture’s Board of Councilors and the LA Conservancy Board of Directors.
In 2015 Kelly received the USC School of Architecture Distinguished Alumni Award. Kelly’s commitment to supporting architectural education has spanned her entire career through publications, exhibitions, lecturing at professional symposia, and institutions around the country, as well as mentoring students of all ages.
Kelly served as the Project Architect for the conservation of the internationally-renowned Gamble House—a project recognized for maintaining the highest conservation values and standards of science and artisanship. The first female recipient of the prestigious Gamble House Scholar-in-Residence program, Kelly resided in the house during her senior years as an architectural student at USC and she remains an active supporter of the Gamble House Institution, advising on ongoing conservation and educational initiatives.
Rosalind Sagara is the Neighborhood Outreach Manager at the Los Angeles Conservancy, where she develops local preservation leaders throughout Los Angeles County. As a public historian and community organizer, she is passionate about bringing people and resources together to preserve historic places, and is committed to advancing equity and belonging in historic preservation. Rosalind is the co-author of the award-winning Asian Americans in Los Angeles Historic Context for SurveyLA and has been nationally recognized for her leadership in preserving the Chinatown archaeological site in Riverside, California. She serves on the Boards of the Save Our Chinatown Committee and Asian & Pacific Islander Americans in Historic Preservation.
Trudi Sandmeier is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, the Director of Graduate Programs in Heritage Conservation, and a Professor of Practice in the School of Architecture at USC. She is a co-creator and co-host of the podcast Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation (saveas.place) and a co-editor of the Routledge Companion to Global Heritage Conservation (2019). Her work centers on the conservation of the recent past and efforts to make visible the impact of underrepresented constituencies on the historic built environment.