FOCUS ON ECLECTIC LOS ANGELES ARCHITECTURE: PAUL R. WILLIAMS, ARCHITECT -- OVERCOMING THE OBSTACLES, INDUSTRY TRAILBLAZER, "ARCHITECT TO THE STARS"©

When I think of 20th Century architecture in Los Angeles, one name always "levitates out of the pack" -- architect Paul R. Williams, FAIA (1894-1980).

Not flamboyant like some of his contemporaries, such as Frank Lloyd Wright, and perhaps not as well known outside of Los Angeles -- although he also designed residential and commercial structures beyond Los Angeles and the United States -- Williams' success, due to his creative genius and talent, his perseverance in overcoming adversity, his elegant designs, and his professional generosity, resulted in numerous commissions, accolades, and prestigious awards both during and after his  highly prolific career that spanned more than 50 years, from the 1920s into the 1970s. 

Paul R. Williams, circa 1950s
Herald Examiner Collection, Los Angeles Public Library.

Paul R. Williams' architectural legacy can be seen all around Los Angeles.  Over the decades that I lived and worked in L.A., I came to admire Williams for his range of architectural styles, as well as for his "signature" touches, i.e., design elements which made much of his work immediately identifiable, such as his use of elliptical shapes, graceful staircases in residential foyers, soft indirect ceiling lighting, and the gently curving interior spaces which may have been inspired by my favourite architectural style, Streamline Moderne, very popular for structural interiors and exteriors commencing in the 1930s.

Aaron Lilien residence, Interior, circa 1946
Photograph by Maynard L. Parker
The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA

Residence in Los Angeles
designed by Paul R. Williams.
Photo provenance unknown.

Several books, numerous articles, and a few video documentaries have been published about Paul R. Williams and his architectural legacy, including two beautiful, very comprehensive coffee table books written by his granddaughter, Karen E. Hudson, who, as an adult, has lived in and preserved the Williams family home in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles and who not only remembers him personally, but who also has been the diligent and loving caretaker of his archives. 

For this reason, this Travelblog article will take a different approach, looking at just a few of his projects from the perspective of my personal affinity for design features evocative of Streamine Moderne which Williams often used throughout his career and which, for me, make his designs especially appealing aesthetically.   Instead of a chronology of his projects, the within article will, therefore, focus on projects of his in Los Angeles which have these similar  "signature design elements" -- several structures with which I myself am familiar due to decades of my living full time in Los Angeles.  Some of these structures are still extant, while others, regrettably, are only a memory kept alive through vintage photographs.       ____________________________________________________________

Two of Williams' most famous projects still exist, each highly visible and famous in its own right. 

        One of L.A.'s most visible, iconic mid-20th Century buildings is seen every day by thousands of people arriving and departing from the Los Angeles International Airport, the LAX Theme Building.  This unique structure, inspired by aeronautical designs, physical movement, and pop culture, was constructed from 1957-1961 at the beginning of the jet age and space exploration, and was a collaborative effort of the then-"Who's Who" of L.A. architects, including Weldon Becket, William Pereira, Charles Luckman, and Paul R. Williams who designed the interior of the Theme Building.  

        Dedicated in 1962, it is the last remaining "visible remnant" of a vision that the architectural team had of a more "relaxed" experience at LAX for departing and returning travelers than what LAX ultimately became as Los Angeles emerged in the post World War II years as a major metropolitan  international destination. At one time containing a restaurant, currently the LAX Theme Building is no longer open to the public.

LAX Theme Building, Exterior
Photo courtesy of LAX.

 

LAX Theme Building, Interior
Photo courtesy of PBSSoCal;
J. Paul Getty Trust/Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles.

   

            The world-renown Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset Boulevard, built in the Spanish Mission style of architecture, opened in 1912 is one of the first structures completed in what that same year became the incorporated City of Beverly Hills, California.  In 1941, the Hotel's proprietor Hernando Courtright hired Paul Williams for the first of many renovation and alteration projects of the Hotel throughout the 1940s, including that of the distinctive lobby with its Don Loper banana leaf waIlpaper and green/pink/white colour scheme, and of the Hotel's bungalows.  One of the Hotel's most recognizable features is the addition called the "Crescent Wing" designed by Paul Williams and built in 1949-1950, which included the famous Polo Lounge as well as the distinctive script signage of the Hotel at the end of the wing.  Hotel lore claims that the reclusive aviator/film producer Howard Hughes maintained an ongoing 30-year reservation for four of the bungalows designed by Williams.

Beverly Hills Hotel Crescent Wing and Exterior Signage
designed by Paul R. Williams.
Photograph by Julius Shulman, circa 1950.
Julius Shulman Photographic Archive,
Research Library, The Getty Research Institute

Beverly Hills Hotel Fountain Coffee Shop circa 1950s.
designed by Paul R. Williams. 
Don Loper banana leaf wallpaper in background.
Photo provenance unknown.

Suite in Beverly Hills Hotel named for Paul Williams
designed for long term guest residents.
Photo source: American Institute of Architects.

Paul Williams' early years growing up in Los Angeles were neither auspicious nor indicative of what was to come in his future. His parents, Chester Stanley Williams, Sr. and Lila A. Wright Williams were from Memphis, Tennessee, where his father worked at the famous Peabody Hotel, and where his brother was born before the family moved to Los Angeles in 1893.  

Orphaned at the age of four after his parents died of tuberculosis, and separated from his brother, Williams grew up in foster care, fortunately in a family which encouraged his interests, although his school teachers were less than enthusiastic about his career prospects as a Black man in the early 1900s.  While he was attending Polytechnic High School,  one such teacher tried to dissuade him from pursuing an architecture career because, as she told him, white clients would be loathe to hire him and the work he might receive from the black community would not be lucrative enough for him to support himself. 

Nevertheless, during the 1910s Williams was in the right place at the right time to have aspirations as an architect.  Los Angeles was transitioning from a quiet Spanish and Mexican settlement into a bustling town dotted with grand Victorian-style homes on Bunker Hill, and then into a city rapidly expanding due in no small part to the distribution of the "Midwestern Edition" of the Los Angeles Times designed and circulated to families in America's heartland to entice them leave their harsh, frozen winters for the year round sunny, mild climate and orange groves of Los Angeles.  

It was at this time that Williams apprenticed for a landscape architect/planner and for two residential designers in Los Angeles, while he pursued the national curriculum of the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects and studied architectural engineering at the University of Southern California.  Upon recommendations from his mentors, he was appointed to the very first Los Angeles City Planning Commission in 1920, at the age of 26.

Portrait circa 1920s
Security Pacific Collection,
Los Angeles Public Library

In 1921, Williams joined the architectural firm of John C. Austin, who encouraged his goals of joining the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and of establishing his own firm.

Paul R. Williams & Associates opened in 1922.  The following year, in 1923, he became the first documented Black member of the AIA.  

In 1953, Williams became the first architect to win NAACP's  Springarn Medal for outstanding achievement by an African-American, the highest honor bestowed by the NAACP.   

In 1957, he became the first Black architect to be elected to the prestigious College of Fellows of the AIA (FAIA).  

In 2017, 37 years after his death, Williams was posthumously awarded the prestigious AIA Gold Medal, the AIA's highest honour -- the first Black architect to receive this award.  According to the AIA, the AIA Gold Medal is the distinction bestowed upon “an individual whose significant body of work has had a lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture".  

Williams was equally versatile in creating residential, commercial and religious structures in the popular architectural styles of the day in Los Angeles -- the classical styles of French Regency, Georgian, Spanish (Mission) Revival, Colonial Revival, Federal, English Tudor, Neo-Classical, and in his later years post World War II, Mid-Century Modern.  From the very beginning, Williams adapted the various classical styles of architecture to the mild Southern California climate which allowed for indoor-outdoor living year round, and which has come to be known as "the L.A. lifestyle".

Racism, however, was particularly prevalent during Williams' early career.  Because he was Black, many of his Caucasian clients did not want to sit next to him, even in his own architectural firm, so he taught himself to write and draw his designs upside-down, from across the table, appearing right-side-up to clients sitting opposite of him.  Additionally, he often received commissions to build residences in areas within Los Angeles where he and his family were not allowed to live due to housing restrictions prohibiting Blacks, and to build restaurants and shops in which he and his family were not welcome.  

The Great Depression of the 1930s had a less negative economic impact on Los Angeles than in other parts of the country due to the rapidly-developing aerospace and oil industries, and the particularly prosperous film industry.  Hollywood moguls and movie stars, such as Lucille Ball/Desi Arnaz, Frank Sinatra, Tyrone Power, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Barbara Stanwyk, Johnny Weissmuller and Anthony Quinn, as well as executives from other industries, wanting to showcase their success and to entertain lavishly, sought out Williams for his exquisite yet livable designs.  

Estate in Holmby Hills adjacent to Beverly Hills, Exterior,
once owned by David Niven, Audrey Hepburn, Eva Gabor, and Mia Farrow,
designed by Paul Williams in 1938
Photo courtesy of CurbedLA. Photo by Adrian Anz.

Estate in Holmby Hills adjacent to Beverly Hills, Interior,
once owned by David Niven, Audrey Hepburn, Eva Gabor, and Mia Farrow,
designed by Paul Williams in 1938
Photo courtesy of CurbedLA. Photo by Adrian Anz.

Williams became a major "go to" architect for high-end residences, hotels, restaurants, retail stores, houses of worship, courthouses, and businesses from that time forward, until his retirement in 1973.  Although he collaborated occasionally during his career with other Los Angeles-based architectural colleagues, often designing the interiors of the projects not the actual physical structure, he worked primarily as the sole designer, particularly on his residential commissions. 

Two of Los Angeles' most famous restaurants which opened in the 1930s, and which served the public for over 50 years, were designed by Williams, Perino's and Chasen's.  

        Originally opened in 1932 on Wilshire Boulevard, Perino's Restaurant immediately became a favourite of Hollywood's elite.  In 1950, at the request of owner Alexander Perino, the restaurant moved to its second location further west in the mid-Wilshire Boulevard area, but still close to the prestigious Hancock Park gated residential area and to the Ambassador Hotel, also designed by Williams.  Both the exterior and the interior of the second location of Perino's showcased some of Williams' "signature design elements"/special touches.  For decades, Perino's was known as a place for "making movie deals" and was often used as a movie and TV location, until the restaurant's closure in 1986.

Perino's Restaurant, Exterior, circa l950s
designed by Paul R. Williams
Photo provenance unknown..

Perino's Restaurant Interior, circa 1950s
designed by Paul R. Williams.
Photo provenance unknown.

        When Dave Chasen first opened his restaurant Chasen's in Los Angeles in 1936 facing Beverly Boulevard on the northeast corner of Beverly Boulevard and Doheny Drive, literally across the "dividing line" on Doheny between Beverly Hills and what now is West Hollywood, both within Los Angeles, and just a few blocks south of the commercial west end of "the Strip" on Sunset Boulevard, he hired the same architect who had designed his home in the hills above The Strip, Paul R. Williams.  

        The restaurant originally started at as a "chili and rib joint", and for its entire existence, stayed true to its roots, even though it catered to an upscale clientele and their families.  By 1960, Chasen's was world famous and for decades, regularly hosted an equally famous "After Party" following the annual Academy Awards ("Oscars") ceremony.  Paul R. Williams designed a series of renovations and expansions commencing in the 1960s which added the curved stuffed leather booths, wood paneling and plush fabrics which gave the entire restaurant a "clubby" feel and created the "comfortable elegance" that Dave and Maude Chasen wanted.

        Chasen's chili itself became world famous as well.  When Elizabeth Taylor was on location in Rome, Italy filming the movie "Cleopatra" (1963), she ordered Chasen's chili delivered to the movie set by special air courier, and continued to do so thereafter while on location for other films.  The restaurant permanently closed in 1995.  (AUTHOR'S NOTE:  I lived three blocks from Chasen's,  just off Beverly Boulevard,  for about six years.  Being a long-time chili fan from Texas, I walked to Chasen's many a balmy Los Angeles evening with friends, specifically to have that world famous chili.) 

Chasen's Exterior, circa 1960s
designed by Paul R. Williams.
Security Pacific Collection, Los Angeles Public Library

Chasen's Interior, circa 1960s
designed by Paul R. Williams.
Security Pacific Collection, Los Angeles Public Library

One of my favourite women's apparel stores in Los Angeles, especially since it was just a few blocks of my residence and within walking distance, was Saks Fifth Avenue Beverly Hills -- still operating -- located on the famous Wilshire Boulevard.  There was something special about the store -- the way the interiors "flowed" between departments, the use of various soft colours in each room to create a mood which reflected the specific merchandise, the elegant fixtures, and, of course, the gracefully curving design elements and distinctive indirect ceiling lighting.

No wonder I loved shopping there.  The interiors of Saks, designed in the formal Regency style while also drawing from the elegant curves of the Streamline Moderne style popularized in the 1930s, had been created by architect Paul R. Williams.  

The original Saks Fifth Avenue Beverly Hills, solely with women's apparel,  opened in 1938.  It was immediately wildly successful, requiring both exterior and interior expansion as early as 1940 and again in 1948, for both of which Williams was commissioned.  New departments with semi-enclosed interiors, lamps and soft, indirect lighting giving the "feel" of being in an expensive mansion were added, as well as Perino's on-site Terrace Restaurant on the roof of the building -- yet another example of Williams' adapting a classical style of architecture to the "L. A. indoor/outdoor lifestyle". 

SFA Beverly Hills still exists and at the same location on Wilshire Boulevard, although Perino's Terrace Restaurant is long gone, albeit fondly remembered by the more vintage "ladies who lunch".

Saks Fifth Avenue, Exterior, circa 1951
after 1948 renovation/expansion
by Paul R. Williams.
Photo courtesy of L.A. Conservancy
from Marc Wanamaker/Bison Archives.

 

SFA Beverly Hills Cosmetics Department
located near entrance at
rear of ground floor level, circa 1940.
Photograph by Maynard L. Parker
The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA

SFA Beverly Hills Shoe Salon
in Regency architectural style, circa 1940.
Photo from Herald Examiner Collection, Los Angeles Public Library
.

SFA Beverly Hills, Interior, circa 1940
designed by Paul R. Williams.
Photo by Maynard L. Parker
The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA

Perino's Terrace Restaurant, Interior
at SFA Beverly Hills, circa 1940
designed by Paul R. Williams.
Photo by Maynard L. Parker
The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA

In 1939, Paul R. Williams was awarded the AIA Award of Merit by the Southern California Chapter for his design of the Music Corporation of America (MCA) headquarters in Beverly Hills, California, which was completed in 1938.  He had received the commission from Jules Stein, who was an ophthamologist-turned-booking-agent who initially represented musical artists performing in the Chicago speakeasies of the 1920s, and later film talent in Hollywood, and who was often referred to as the "agent to the stars".  Stein therefore wanted the "architect to the stars", Paul R. Williams, to design the West Coast Headquarters of Stein's agency MCA in a "traditional" architectural style which would give "establishment cache" to Stein's business, and which would reflect Stein's own success as well as that of the talent he represented. 

Williams created a gorgeous building in Georgian Revival style, totally unique to other professional buildings in Beverly Hills, because in the 1930s, the public still equated Colonial styling with tradition, "gentlemanly old money" and "the idealized version of the Northeast Coast American home".  

The interior of MCA featured similar "signature design elements" which Williams also used in the Saks Fifth Avenue Beverly Hills store just a few blocks away, which like the MCA building, was completed and opened in 1938.  Design features within the MCA building included a curved staircase, sculpted moldings, chair rails, paneling, and antique-like furnishings -- some of which features Williams also used inside the Saks store. 

Additionally, like interior of Saks Fifth Avenue Beverly Hills, the interior of MCA blended the comforts of a well-appointed home with the professionalism of a commercial working environment. The spaces within both of these businesses reflected the elegance of Williams' style in minimizing the commercial aspect by creating the feel of home enhanced by lower ceilings and curved walls.  

In 1964, MCA sold the property to Litton Industries which preserved the original architectural integrity of the building.  Additional buildings completed in 1969 were added to the complex, also designed by the original architect, Paul R. Williams.

MCA/Litton Industries, Exterior, circa 2010
original design by Paul R. Williams.
Photo credit:  David Horan
The Paul Williams Project

MCA Headquarters theatre, 1939
designed by Paul R. Williams.
Photo credit:  Maynard L. Parker
The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA

MCA Headquarters staircase, 1939
designed by Paul R. Williams.
Photo credit:  Maynard L. Parker
The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA

The MCA/Litton Industries Building -- as those of us, including myself, being an entertainment industry attorney in Los Angeles for decades -- out of habit often prefer to call it, is still extant and still as gorgeous as ever.  Although it is currently occupied by another owner, the complex was added to the Beverly Hills Registry of Historic Properties by the City of Beverly Hills' Cultural Heritage Commission in June of 2020.

In 1960, Williams worked closely with the Founder's Church of Religious Science in Los Angeles to create a house of worship which reflected the vision of its founder, Dr. Ernest Holmes, of an all-embracing, all-inclusive church.  The result was an elliptical building in the shape of a drum with a distinctive dome, and containing a sanctuary with over 1,400 seats.  

The design of the building is considered to be Mid-Century Modern;  however, Williams'  use of rounded corners and graceful curving lines are evocative of signature design elements utilized by Williams throughout his career. The reinforced concrete building supports the steel-framed dome which is approximately 4-stories tall. The pierced concrete exterior wall surrounds the building, enclosing it within a lush green garden.  

Founder's Church, Exterior
designed by Paul R. Williams
Photo source:  Los Angeles Conservancy Archives

Founder's Church, Interior
designed by Paul R. Williams
Photo Source:  Founder's Church of Religious Science

On February 3, 2020, the Church was added to the National Registry of Historic Places -- exactly 60 years and one month to the day that the Church had been dedicated in 1960.  It is the most recent of several historical landmark designations that buildings designed by Paul R. Williams have received, both during and subsequent to his lifetime.

____________________________________________________________

POSTSCRIPT:  This Travelblog article barely scratches the surface of the totality of Paul R. Williams body of architectural work.  He designed approximately 3,000 residences within Los Angeles alone during his professional career of over 50 years, not to mention grand houses, commercial projects and office buildings, houses of worship, hotels, civic buildings, and public housing, inter alia, both within and outside of Los Angeles County.  His ability to visualize, design, and turn into reality, the vision of his clients while facing the harsh realities of racial discrimination with unfailing dignity, elegance and perseverance, has created a truly exceptional architectural and professional legacy. 

Several buildings still extant in Los Angeles designed by Paul R. Williams are included in our "Los Angeles Architecture -- An Eclectic Landscape"©  custom-designed heritage and cultural escorted group tour Itinerary.  For more information about this unique and comprehensive heritage and cultural group tour covering L.A.'s architectural history from "early settlement to the present", visit us at http://www.snobbytours.com/EclecticLAarchitecture.html 
Reservations close on February 15th during each year we offer this Tour. 

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(Primary Sources:  The Paul Revere Williams Project;  Paul R. Williams: A Legacy of Style by Karen E. Hudson (© 2000, Rizzoli Press); Los Angeles Conservancy;  American Institute of Architects; Pacific Coast Architects Database; PBS SoCal.)

AUTHOR'S NOTE REGARDING PHOTO CREDITS:  Though Paul R. Williams's archive of over 10,000 drawings was believed destroyed in the 1992 Los Angeles riots, the archive was actually elsewhere, cared for by his granddaughter Karen Elyse Hudson, who for decades has worked to preserve his legacy and who has published extensively on his architectural accomplishments. This archive has recently been  jointly acquired by the University of Southern California School of Architecture (Williams'  alma mater) and the Getty Research Institute.  Included in this Travelblog article are some of the nearly forgotten photographs from these archives.  Provenance and photo credits have been provided in this Travelblog article to the extent that I could find or verify reliable source information thereon. ~ EJ

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