Architect City

I write not to correct Michael Redmon regarding his history of the Music Academy of the West, but as an addendum to give credit where it is due [History 101, “What is the history of the estate that houses Music Academy of the West?” 12/3/09].

Mr. Redmon states in his article that Francis Wilson was contracted to design the new Montecito Country Club after the old building burned. And he cites some of Mr. Wilson’s other public buildings in Santa Barbara, among them the old downtown Post Office building, which he points out is now the Museum of Art.

In fairness, though, it should be pointed out that when the Post Office building became the Museum of Art, it was redesigned to make it more suitable for use as an art museum by famed Chicago architect David Adler in 1940. I mention this because Adler’s work, of which I am a great admirer, is not well represented in Santa Barbara.

In a city so full of the work of a great many of this country’s finest architects, it is pleasing to know of the work of yet another, here in Santa Barbara. – N. Craig Bryant