Barbara Bestor

Barbara Bestor (born 1966) is an American architect based in Los Angeles, California. She is the principal of Bestor Architecture, founded in 1992.[1] Examples of her work include the Beats Electronics Headquarters in Culver City,[2] Blackbirds, small lot housing in Los Angeles, Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea in Los Angeles,[3] the revitalization of Silvertop, originally designed by John Lautner[4] and the Toro Canyon House in Santa Barbara.[5] In 2017 she was elected to the AIA's College of Fellows.[6]

Barbara Bestor
Born1966
EducationHarvard University
Southern California Institute of Architecture
OccupationArchitect
Known forBeats Electronics, Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea
Spouse(s)Tom Stern (divorced); Adam Silverman (divorced)
Children2

Early life

Barbara Bestor grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where her father was an anthropologist and her mother was a college administrator.[1][7] She interned for Cambridge Seven Associates through college, with a study-abroad year at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, eventually graduating from Harvard University in 1987.[1][7][8] She then received a master's degree in architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles in 1992.[1][8][9]

Career

Bestor began her architectural practice in Los Angeles in 1992.[1] In her early career, she renovated many private residences in the Los Angeles area.[1] She also designed the Actors' Gang theater in Hollywood with fellow architect Norman Millar.[1] In 2001, she taught architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.[1] She returned to Los Angeles a year later, in 2002.[1] She has taught architecture at the University of California, Los Angeles.[10]

Bestor has taught at the Woodbury University School of Architecture in Burbank, California, where she is also the executive director of the Julius Shulman Institute.[8][11] She was the founding Chair of the Graduate program.[8][11] In 2014, with Catherine Gudis, Thomas Kracauer, and Shannon Starkey, she curated an exhibition about the environmental graphic designer Deborah Sussman at Woodbury.[12] She has been a TEDx speaker.[11] In 2017 the exhibition Albert Frey and Lina Bo Bardi: A Search for Living Architecture, designed by Bestor Architecture, opened at the Palm Springs Art Museum.[13]

Bestor has designed private residences in Echo Park, Pacific Palisades, Mount Washington, Silverlake, Los Feliz, Topanga Canyon, and Santa Barbara.[1][10][14][15] She has also designed stores and restaurants in Los Angeles, New York City, and Tokyo.[1][10][16] In 2011, she was the recipient of the LA Restaurant Design Award from the American Institute of Architects for her design of the Pitfire Pizza in LA.[9] She was also nominated for the James Beard Foundation Award for the same restaurant that year.[9] The Floating Bungalow house in Venice, CA was featured in MOCA's 2013 survey of contemporary Los Angeles architecture.[17] In 2015, the Beats By Dre Headquarters was recognized with a National AIA Honor Award for Interior Architecture.[18] In 2017 two new projects opened, the Ashes & Diamonds Winery and Event Center [19] and the Silverlake Conservatory of Music.[20] Since the opening of Blackbirds [21] Bestor has explored a variety of housing solutions for Los Angeles, ultimately receiving second place in the city's Low Rise competition.[22]

Personal life

She has two daughters from a previous marriage.[23]

Bibliography
  • Barbara Bestor. Bohemian Modern: Living in Silver Lake. New York City: HarperCollins. 2006. 272 pages.[24]

See also

References
  1. Emily Young, Building a Name for Herself, The Los Angeles Times, March 14, 2002
  2. Zeiger, Mimi (July 22, 2014). "Beats By Dre's Splashy New Headquarters". Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  3. Hodge, Brooke (May 15, 2008). "L.A. Interiors Bestor In Show". Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  4. "Silvertop".
  5. Lennon, Christine. "Grand Canyon". Archived from the original on 25 March 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  6. "College of Fellows - AIA".
  7. Kimberly Stevens, House Proud: A Simple Playhouse At Cut Corners, The New York Times, March 20, 2003
  8. "Woodbury University School of Architecture: Faculty webpage". Archived from the original on 2016-08-04. Retrieved 2014-12-05.
  9. Southern California Institute of Architecture: Alumni Archived December 9, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  10. A Conversation With Architect Barbara Bestor Archived 2014-12-08 at the Wayback Machine, TheAgencyRE, July 11, 2014
  11. TED: OlympicBoulvdWomen: Speakers & Performers Archived December 10, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  12. Christopher Hawthorne, She Loves L.A. Archived 2014-12-08 at the Wayback Machine, Metropolis Magazine, March 2014
  13. The Many Surprising Parallels Between the Architecture of Lina Bo Bardi and Albert Frey, Metropolis, 14 September 2017
  14. Lawren Howell, What Makes Mona Moore the Coolest Shoe Store in Los Angeles, Vogue, November 4, 2009
  15. Alison Cavatore, Barbara Bestor-Designed Property Listed for $3.25 Million, Haute Living, August 31, 2012
  16. Erin Feher, Ladies of de LaB Dig Deep Into the LA Design Scene, California Home Design, 12/12/13
  17. Hawthorne, Christopher (June 29, 2013). "Review: MOCA's revamped architecture show a model of insularity". Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  18. Johnson, Sara. "Institute Honor Awards: Interior Architecture". No. January 9, 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  19. "New Winery Hopes to Make Old School Wine Cool Again with a Modern Tasting Room". 16 August 2017.
  20. "Flea Takes Us on a Tour of the New Silverlake Conservatory of Music (VIDEO)". 28 October 2016.
  21. "Blackbirds: Barbara Bestor's Housing Experiment Lands in Echo Park". 21 July 2015.
  22. "A Less Atomized, More Communitarian Los Angeles? Low-Rise Winners Point the Way". 16 May 2021.
  23. Jacobs, Alexandra (10 April 2015). "Aahs for the Bride and Oohs for the House". The New York Times.
  24. Google Books
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