Background
Gebhard was born and raised in Minnesota. He received his Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota in 1958.
Gebhard was born and raised in Minnesota. He received his Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota in 1958.
University of Minnesota.
He was a long-time faculty member at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and was dedicated to the preservation of Santa Barbara architecture. He served, for six years, as director of the Roswell Museum and Art Center in New Mexico, before moving to University of California Santa Barbara in 1961. As a teacher he inspired many students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
In addition to his long teaching career, he served as director of the University Art Museum for twenty years, building a small gallery into a significant accredited university museum.
In this position, he initiated the Architectural Drawings Collection, now one of the leading West Coast repositories for architectural materials. With Robert Winter he co-authored guides to architecture in northern and southern California.
Gebhard was also active in service to his community, serving for many years on the Santa Barbara County Architectural Board of Review. He was active in the Society of Architectural Historians, and served a term as its president in the 1980s.
The David Gebhard Memorial Lecture Series is an annual event sponsored by Pasadena Heritage, an architectural preservation organization in Pasadena, California.
