Paul R. Williams:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_R._Williams
Born
Paul Revere Williams
February 18, 1894
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died
January 23, 1980 (aged 85)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater
University of Southern California
Occupation
Architect
Buildings
1926 28th Street YMCA, Los Angeles
1935 Rene Faron Residence
1938 First Church of Christ, Scientist (Reno, Nevada)
1939 Saks Fifth Avenue, Beverly Hills
1940 Pueblo del Rio Housing Development (joint venture)
1948 Golden State Mutual Life Los Angeles
1949 and 1963 Perino’s Restaurant (alterations of existing buildings)
1951 Williams Residence
1953 Imperial Courts Housing Development, Los Angeles
1958 Los Angeles Superior Court
1961 LAX Theme Building (joint venture)
1961 La Concha Motel
1962 St. Jude Hospital, Memphis
1968 First AME Church, Los Angeles
1964 Beverly Sunset Medical Center Los Angeles
Paul Revere Williams, FAIA (February 18, 1894 – January 23, 1980) was an American architect based in Los Angeles, California. He practiced mostly in Southern California and designed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Lon Chaney, Barbara Stanwyck and Charles Correll. He also designed many public and private buildings.[1][2][3]
Early life and education
Williams came from a family of middle class Memphis residents: Chester Stanley and Lila Wright Williams. They migrated to Los Angeles in 1893 with their son, Chester, to start a fruit business, but were not successful. Paul was born in Los Angeles on February 18, 1894. His father died in 1896 from tuberculosis and his mother two years later from the same illness, leaving the boys in foster care. He was eventually adopted by C.I. Clarkson and his wife. Williams was the only African-American student in his elementary school.[4] He studied at the Los Angeles School of Art and Design and at the Los Angeles branch of the New York Beaux-Arts Institute of Design Atelier, subsequently working as a landscape architect with Wilbur Cook, Jr. He studied architectural engineering from 1916 to 1919 at the University of Southern California, where he earned his degree,[5] designing several residential buildings while a student there.[6] Williams became a certified architect in California in 1921[7] and the first certified African-American architect west of the Mississippi.[8]
He married Della Mae Givens[9] on June 27, 1917,[10] at the First AME Church in Los Angeles.[11] They had three children: Paul Revere Williams Jr. (born and died June 30, 1925, buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Los Angeles); Marilyn Frances Williams (born December 25, 1926) and Norma Lucille Williams Harvey[12] (born September 18, 1928).
Career
Poster from Office of War Information. Domestic Operations Branch. News Bureau, 1943
Williams won an architectural competition at age 25, and three years later opened his own office. Known as an outstanding draftsman, he perfected the skill of rendering drawings “upside down.” This skill was developed because in the 1920s many of his white clients felt uncomfortable sitting directly next to a Black man. He learned to draft upside down so that he could sit across the desk from his clients who would see his drafts right-side-up.[3]
Struggling to gain attention, he served on the first Los Angeles City Planning Commission in 1920.[5]
From 1921 through 1924, Williams worked for Los Angeles architect John C. Austin, eventually becoming chief draftsman, before establishing his own office.
In 1923, Williams became the first African-American member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).[1][3]
In 1939, he won the AIA Award of Merit for his design of the MCA Building in Beverly Hills (now headquarters of the Paradigm Talent Agency).
At one point in his career Williams became interested in prefabricated structures. He worked together with Wallace Neff to design experimental Airform structures which were small homes that only took a few days to construct using simple materials.[5]
A. Quincy Jones (1913–79) was an architect who is claimed to have hired Williams and later collaborated with him on projects in Palm Springs, including the Palm Springs Tennis Club (1947) and the Town & Country (1948) and Romanoff’s on the Rocks (1948) restaurants.[13]
Lockheed and Guerdon Industries recruited Williams to design a concept for a car-alternative travel system in Las Vegas. He developed the idea of a monorail-like system called the Skylift Magi-Cab that would bring people to and from McCarran Airport and the city center.[5]
During World War II, Williams worked for the Navy Department as an architect.
During his career Williams designed over 2,000 buildings.[5]
Awards, recognition and honors
During his lifetime
In 1948 the anthology radio drama Destination Freedom recapped his earlier life.[14]
In 1951, Williams won the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, Man of the Year award and in 1953 he received the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP for his outstanding contributions as an architect and member of the African-American community.
Williams also received honorary doctorates from Lincoln University of Missouri (doctor of science, 1941), Howard University (doctor of architecture, 1952), and the Tuskegee Institute (doctor of fine arts, 1956).
In 1956, he won an award for service, from Wisdom magazine, for “contributions to knowledge and distinguished service to mankind.”
In 1957, he became the first Black member to be inducted into the AIA’s College of Fellows. An April 2, 1957 letter from the Executive Secretary of AIA, offered Williams the honor of Fellowship and membership in the College of Fellows “for your notable contribution in Public Service.”
Posthumous honors
USC listed him among its distinguished alumni in the television commercial for the school shown during its football games in 2004.
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) gave him its gold medal in 2017, 37 years after Williams’s death.[3]
“Our profession desperately needs more architects like Paul Williams. His pioneering career has encouraged others to cross a chasm of historic biases. I can’t think of another architect whose work embodies the spirit of the Gold Medal better. His recognition demonstrates a significant shift in the equity for the profession and the institute.”
— William J. Bates, FAIA, in his support of William’s nomination for the AIA Gold Medal., Architectural Digest[15]
https://www.pbs.org/video/hollywoods-architect-3prwsa/ Hollywood’s Architect: The Paul R. Williams Story
Hollywood’s Architect: The Paul R. Williams Story
02/06/2020 | 56m 33s |
A Trailblazing Black Architect Who Helped Shape L.A.
June 22, 20123:51 PM ET
Heard on All Things Considered
https://www.npr.org/2012/06/22/155442524/a-trailblazing-black-architect-who-helped-shape-l-a
A Trailblazing Black Architect Who Helped Shape L.A.
June 22, 20123:51 PM ET
Heard on All Things Considered
- Copyright Benny Chan
Copyright Benny Chan
Copyright Benny Chan
Copyright Benny Chan
Copyright Benny Chan
Copyright Benny Chan
THE LEGEND, BEFORE OUR TIMES: A Trailblazing Black Architect Who Helped Shape L.A. AND LAS VEGAS AND WESTERN USA STRUCTURES OF Architecture designs, “SHOULD NEVER BE FORGOTTEN, NOR “C.R.T.’ED” AWAY FROM “REAL/TRUE/TRUTH OF HISTORIES/EDUCATION/LEGENDS OF COLOR(S).
His granddaughter, Karen E. Hudson, has been chronicling Williams’ life and work for the past two decades. Her latest book, Paul R. Williams: Classic Hollywood Style, focuses on some of the homes of his celebrity clients. They feature many characteristics that were innovative when he used them in the 1920s through the ’70s and are considered common practice now — like the patio as an extension of the house, and hidden, retractable screens.
https://la.curbed.com/2017/12/18/16781204/architect-paul-r-williams-residence-for-sale-mid-city
Paul R. Williams’ family residence in Lafayette Square hits the market for first time, asking $2.395M
It’s a Los Angeles landmark
By Pauline O’Connor Dec 18, 2017,
