Kazor, 81, led creation of the Wilton Historic District
Ginny Kazor
Preservationist and Wilton Place resident Virginia “Ginny” Ernst Kazor died Sept. 8 from complications of Parkinson’s disease. She was 81.
She came to local and national prominence by halting a proposed highway through her neighborhood. If approved, the plan, proposed in 1972, would have wiped out six homes on Wilton Place’s signature curvy road.
Kazor’s efforts led to the creation of the Wilton Historic District, which cut federal funds for the project and saved the early neighborhood, which dates to the early 20th century.
The 10-year effort to receive a National Register of Historic Places designation is credited with helping mobilize the city’s preservation movement.
Kazor, who lived in a Craftsman home on Wilton Place, also founded the Ridgewood Wilton Neighborhood Association; she was on the board at the time of her death.
A graduate of Marymount High School and USC, Kazor studied art history and architecture. After graduation, she worked in the modern art department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She worked under influential curator Maurice Tuchman, and she was cast as a socialite in Edward Kienholz’s life-size work, “The Beanery.”
Kazor went on to a 40-year career with the City of Los Angeles, Dept. of Cultural Affairs. In 2002, she received the Wright Spirit Award for her word in preserving Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House, named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2019. In 2010, she was curator of Simon Rodia’s Watts Towers.
Her first husband, Gene Kazor, died in 1994. She is survived by her second husband, Tom Koester.
Category: People