Lutah Maria Riggs Designs the American Riviera

Lutah Maria Riggs and Arvin B. Shaw III, Alice Erving House, Montecito (1949-51). Architecture and Design Collection, UC-Santa Barbara.

Today Montecito and Santa Barbara are associated with a number of women identifiable by a single name, from Gwyneth to Oprah to Meghan. But the look of the houses in those oceanfront cities – stucco arches, red tile floors, exposed beams — can be attributed to a woman architect also known by one name, Lutah.

Welcome to the latest episode of New Angle: Voice on the Ohio-born and California-bred architect Lutah Maria Riggs.