This entry is for A. Quincy Jones the architect. For the article on Quincy Jones, the producer and songwriter, click here.

A. (Archibald) Quincy Jones, FAIA, (1913 - 1979) was a prolific Los Angeles-based architect and educator known for innovative buildings in the modernist style and for urban planning that pioneered the use of greenbelts and green design.

Archibald Quincy Jones was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1913. Jones began private practice in Los Angeles in 1937. Prior to World War II he worked on a joint venture with Allied Engineers in San Pedro, California, where he met the architect Frederick Emmons, who would later partner with Jones.

The years after the war first saw Jones partnering with fellow modernist architect Paul R. Williams on several projects in the Palm Springs area. These include the Palm Springs Tennis Club (1947), the Town & Country shopping center (1948), and the restaurant Romanoffs On the Rocks (1950). Jones also participated in John Entenza 's Case Study House program.

The December 1950 issue of the magazine Architectural Forum featured a 'Builder's House of the Year' designed by A. Quincy Jones. The same issue also awarded the innovative Palo Alto building magnate Joseph Eichler 'Subdivision of the Year.' Eichler then invited Jones to tour the Palo Alto development he had just completed where he suggested to Jones that the Builder of the Year team with the Architect of the Year. This relationship continued until Joseph Eichler's death in 1974. It was through this relationship that Jones was provided both the venue and the freedom to implement his concepts of incorporating park-like common areas in tract housing developments. His were some of the first greenbelts incorporated into moderate income tract housing in the United States.

The Eichler commission prompted Jones to form a partnership with his prewar acquaintance, the architect Frederick Emmons. The Jones and Emmons partnership lasted from the early months of 1951 until Emmons' retirement in December 1969. Their efforts and designs are reflected in some 5,000 of Eichler's homes by Emmons' estimate. Jones and Emmons were awarded national AIA Firm of the Year in 1969.

Jones was also a professor and later dean of architecture at the University of Southern California's School of Architecture from 1951 through 1967. By the 1960's Jones was designing a number of university campus buildings and larger office buildings, including the 1963 IBM Aerospace Headquarters in Westchester, California. Several University of California campuses feature significant examples of Jones' work. In 1966 Jones designed "Sunnylands," the 650 acre (2.6 km²) estate and 32,000 square foot (3,000 m²) home of Walter Annenberg in Rancho Mirage, California.

Jones raised the tract house in California from the simple stucco box to a logically designed structure integrated into the landscape and surrounded by greenbelts. He introduced new materials as well as a new way of living within the built environment and popularized an informal, outdoor-oriented open plan. More than just abstractions of the suburban ranch house, most Jones and Emmons designs incorporated a usable atrium, high ceilings, post-and-beam construction and walls of glass. For the postwar moderate-income family, his work bridged the gap between custom-built and developer-built homes. Jones often took advantage of industrial prefabricated units to provide affordable yet refined architecture. His larger buildings brought innovations to the integration of mechanical systems improving their efficiency and maximizing retrievable space. Jones' aesthetic style, precise detailing and siting make his buildings quintessential embodiments of mid-century American architecture.

Significant buildings

• 1938 Jones House and Studio, 8661 Nash, West Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
• 1947 Palm Springs Tennis Club, with Paul R. Williams. Palm Springs, California
• 1948
  • Town & Country shopping center, with Paul R. Williams. Palm Springs, California. (altered)
  • Romanoff's on the Rocks, Palm Springs, California (altered)
  • Nordlinger House, 11492 Thurston Circle, Bel Air, Los Angeles, California
• 1950
  • Mutual Housing Association Development, with Smith and Contini. Los Angeles, California
  • Hvistendahl House, San Diego
• 1951 Campbell Hall School, 4717 Laurel Canyon, North Hollywood, California
• 1952 House, Bienveneda and Marquette Streets, Pacific Palisades, California
• 1954 Emmons House, 661 Brooktree, Pacific Palisades, California
• 1955 Jones House, 1223 Tigertail Road, Los Angeles (destroyed by fire)
• 1959 Biological Sciences Building, University of California at Santa Barbara
• 1960 Faculty Center, University of Southern California Los Angeles, California
• 1963 Shorecliff Tower Apartments, 535 Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica, California
• 1964
  • Joseph Eichler Housing Development, Granada Hills, California
  • University Research Library, unit I, University of California at Los Angeles
  • Laguna/O'Farrel Apartments, 66 Cleary Court, San Francisco, California
  • Joseph Eichler Housing Development, Thousand Oaks, California
• 1966
  • Walter Annenberg Estate "Sunnylands," Rancho Mirage, California
  • Carillon Tower, University of California, Riverside, California
• 1967 Chemistry Building, University of California, Riverside, California
• 1971 Research Library, unit II, University of California, Los Angeles, California
• 1975 Mandeville Center for the Arts, University of California, La Jolla, San Diego, California
• 1976 Annenberg School of Communication, unit I, University of Southern California, Los Angeles California
• 1979 Annenberg School of Communication, unit II, University of Southern California, Los Angeles California

Additional reading

• A Quincy Jones by Cory Buckner. Phaidon Press Inc., May 2002. 272 pages. ISBN 0714840742
• Eichler: Modernism Rebuilds the American Dream by Paul Adamson. Gibbs Smith Publisher, 2002.