Jeffrey Herr
You could say that Jeffrey Herr’s first encounter with a Frank Lloyd Wright building made a lasting impact. When his professor in a modern art class suggested Wright’s Hollyhock House would make a good paper topic, Herr visited the Los Angeles house and interviewed its then-curator, Virginia Kazor. “I guess the rest is history,” says Herr, who has worked at Hollyhock House since 2005. Author of the property’s National Historic Landmark nomination (designated 2007), he manages the interpretation of Hollyhock House, conducts research and recently directed a four-year restoration, reopening it to the public in 2015. Born in Hanover, Pennsylvania, Herr trained in decorative arts (“A Wright house is perhaps the largest decorative art object one can find”) then “did the Hollywood thing, which obviously didn’t work out all that well.” He went to work in the savings and loan industry before returning to graduate school to study art history. “Before assuming my role at Hollyhock House I curated art exhibitions and restored a 1850 Victorian Mansion (Banning Residence),” says Herr. “I’m approaching the quarter century mark working for the City of Los Angeles.”
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