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Paul williams architect houses9/12/2023 ![]() ![]() It is hidden behind a low wall in a leafy neighborhood in Flintridge. ![]() The John Bishop Green residence looks stately and massive and clearly connotes wealth and success with its red brick and scalloped chimneys. Though many have been demolished or remodeled beyond recognition over the years, and still others remain hidden behind massive hedges and forbidding walls, several of Williams’ buildings simply watch over unassuming Los Angeles streets with a quiet dignity. As a tribute to Williams, HomeAdvisor created an illustrated map of 43 of his most notable California homes. They are peppered throughout the Los Angeles area, from Ontario to Santa Monica. His influence stretches beyond California in Las Vegas, the undulating concrete lobby of the La Concha Motel is now the entrance to the Neon Museum.īeyond his most iconic public structures, a great many of the houses Williams designed have survived to this day in their original forms. Kennedy’s 1968 assassination), and the Arrowhead Springs Hotel near San Bernardino. He designed or took part in major renovations of iconic hotels like the Beverly Hills Hotel, the now-demolished Ambassador (the site of Robert F. Williams built grand, populist structures like the delicate 28th Street YMCA in Los Angeles, posh shopping temples like the giant Saks Fifth Avenue department store in Beverly Hills, and utilitarian office towers like the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Building. He also designed a bachelor pad for Frank Sinatra a jaunty, angular desert house for Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz near Palm Springs and a cabin for Lon Chaney deep in the John Muir Wilderness. The Jetsons-esque airport centerpiece completed in 1961 may be one of the most recognizable structures in California aside from the Golden Gate Bridge. LA would not be LA without Paul Revere Williams: If you’ve ever flown into LAX, or just happen to be a fan of Modernist architecture, you surely know the Theme Building. By the time Williams passed away in 1980, he had left his mark on more than 3,000 buildings around the Los Angeles area, either as principal architect or as a consulting contributor. Williams became the first Black member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1923, and later, its first Black fellow. ![]() Paul Revere Williams, fondly remembered in some circles as “the architect to the stars,” was one of the first American-born Black “starchitects.” He broke down barriers and amassed an enormous portfolio over the course of a long career, helping define modern Los Angeles in the process. But by and large, the upper ranks of architecture remains a relatively exclusive-and mostly white-club.īut there are exceptions. Recent initiatives like the National Museum of African American History and Culture’s (NMAAHC) Rendering Visible, to collect and record the work of Black architects, have helped break new ground. Of particular note has been the world of design and architecture, which remains dominated by the wealthy and elite-educated- Black architects in particular are especially underrepresented. But even if massive progress remains to be made, the overall thrust over the past half-century has undeniably been for the better. has been a serpentine road of big progress and dramatic setbacks. ![]()
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