Make the most of your APG membership! Every year in the Fall, Alhambra Preservation Group hosts a special “members-only” activity — a free guided tour of a Southern California architectural treasure.
This year we have a real treat in store for our members — a two-hour walking tour of the Caltech campus in Pasadena, scheduled for Friday morning, November 9th from 10 a.m. to noon. If you’re not already a member of APG, you can join today and request to have your name added to our list of tour-goers. A maximum of 30 participants can be accommodated on our private “behind the scenes” tour of the campus, but there are still spots available.
After a brief visit to the Caltech faculty club, the renowned Athenaeum designed in 1931 by Gordon Kaufmann, the tour will explore several original buildings on campus, some of which date to 1910. Participants will see how 
architect and master planner Bertram Goodhue, using “shaded portals, sheltering walls and Persian pools,” set the tone for a campus of great beauty — so that the scientists and engineers working and studying here could become more aware of the aesthetic values of life.
Our tour guide will be Romy Wyllie, author of the foremost reference work on the history of the Institute, Caltech’s Architectural Heritage, from Spanish Tile to Modern Stone, published in 2000. A certified interior designer and member of the International Interior Design Association, Wyllie has taught architectural history and interior design. She is co-founder and chairman of the Caltech Architectural Tour Service.
The Caltech tour is a fairly strenuous walk, covering a distance of about 1.3 miles, and it includes flights of stairs. Comfortable walking shoes are recommended. We regret that strollers, walkers and wheelchairs cannot be accommodated on this tour.
The deadline for registration is Wednesday, October 31. Call today to learn more, or to get your name on the list of tour-goers: (626) 755-3467.
Photos courtesy of Caltech.
The Prose of Preservation 
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