Paul Revere Williams (February 18, 1894 – January 23, 1980) was an African American architect based in Los Angeles, California. Orphaned at the age of four, he went on to attend the University of Southern California to earn a degree in mechanical engineering. He also studied at the Los Angeles School of Art and Design and at the Beaux Arts Institute of Design in New York. He became a certified architect in 1915, the first Black architect west of the Mississippi. In 1917 he married Della Mae Givens at the First AME Church in Los Angeles. The couple had two children.

He won an architectural competition at age 25 and three years later opened his own office. Fighting to gain attention, he served on the first Los Angeles City Planning Commission in 1920. During World War II he served as a naval architect.

In 1953 he received the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP for outstanding achievements. He received honorary doctorates from Howard University, Lincoln University, and the Tuskegee Institute. He was the first Black member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and in 1957 became the first Black to be voted an AIA Fellow.

Works

Los Angeles Airport "Jet-Age" postcard showing the Theme Building

Williams was particularly noted for his modern style but also worked in a variety of other styles to suit his clients. He completed some 3,000 projects before his retirement in 1971.

Williams designed more than 2,000 private homes. He worked on small homes and housing projects. Among them was the Pueblo del Rio project in southeast Los Angeles. But his most famous homes were for Hollywood celebrities. His list of clients included Frank Sinatra (the notorious pushbutton house), Lon Chaney, Lucille Ball, Tyrone Power, William S. Paley, Charles Cottrell , Will Hays, and Zasu Pitts.

Noted public buildings that Williams designed or contributed to (in Los Angeles, unless otherwise noted) include:

• Shrine Auditorium (Williams helped prepare construction drawings as a young architect)
• The Theme Building restaurant at Los Angeles International Airport (with Welton Becket)
• Hollywood YMCA
• Los Angeles County Courthouse
• Los Angeles County Hall of Administration
• United Nations Building (Paris) , Paris, France
• Saks Fifth Avenue, Beverly Hills, California
• Beverly Hills Hotel , Beverly Hills, California
• the concrete paraboloid La Concha Motel in Las Vegas (razed 2004)

Quotes

"If I allow the fact that I am a Negro to checkmate my will to do, now, I will inevitably form the habit of being defeated."

"Planning is thinking beforehand how something is to be made or done, and mixing imagination with the product – which in a broad sense makes all of us planners. The only difference is that some people get a license to get paid for thinking and the rest of us just contribute our good thoughts to our fellow man."

References

Hudson, Karen E. Paul Revere Williams: A Legacy of Style. New York: Rizzoli, 1993. Architecture; Leavey NA737.W527H84 1993

External links

• Via Magazine profile: Paul Willams, an Architect
• SoCal History biography of Williams