About Christine French

Website: https://californiapreservation.org/

I grew up in Southern California in a distinctly unique architectural period--Modernism. My father is old-style East LA from Boyle Heights and drove our Rambler (later replaced by a Ford Pinto) everywhere, using back roads, shortcuts, and "surface streets." He took my sister and I on adventures all through downtown and into the surrounding deserts. Along the way I absorbed and embraced the colorful landscapes of greater LA, from the Golden-era Hollywood exoticism of Grauman's Chinese Theatre to the minimalist designs of architects such as Richard Neutra. But, modernism structured my daily life in every way--I kept my childhood savings at a bank building by W.A. Sarmiento, attended concerts at the white-concrete arenas of Charles Luckman and Welton Becket, and ate apple pie or Monte Cristo sandwiches at exuberant Googie coffee shops all over the valley. I still have that sense of adventure, and am always eager to explore new ways of interpreting architecture and telling the stories of buildings and people that inspire me, in all mediums including films, books, and scholarly journals. I have lived in California, Utah, Florida, Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. My degrees include a B.S. in Architectural Studies from the University of Utah and a masters in Architectural History from the University of Virginia. I am an Expert Member of the Scientific Committee on 20th Century Heritage for the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and I specialize in the study, preservation, and rehabilitation of historic buildings and structures. ​

Posts by Christine French