Virginia Kazor was curator at lauded Hollyhock House
Hollyhock House, a 20th-century treasure designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, was recently added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is the only World Heritage site in Los Angeles, as well as the first such cultural site for California and the first modern architecture designation.
Ridgewood Wilton resident Virginia Kazor was the longtime curator of the site. She started there in 1978, and she long has been involved nationally in preserving the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, including as a founding member of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy.
In 1991, the City of Los Angeles assigned her responsibility for the conservation of Watts Towers, which she oversaw until her retirement in 2010.
Kazor also was responsible for the creation of the Wilton Historic District in 1979 and was one of the early organizers of the Wilshire Homeowners’ Alliance.
Construction of Hollyhock House began in 1919 when oil heiress Aline Barnsdall commissioned Wright to build a Mayan-inspired theater, cinema, commercial shops and artist residences as part of a cultural arts complex on a 36-acre site in East Hollywood, then known as Olive Hill. In 1927, the building was donated to the City of Los Angeles, and has been operated as a community arts center.
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