The rich legacy of a black architect: new book celebrates life and work of a pioneer Los Angeles designer

Ebony, March, 1994 by Karima A. Haynes

The designs speak for themselves. The stately mansions set in affluent enclaves of Los Angeles. The weekend retreats nestled among natural rock formations in the arid California desert. The elegant seating area at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills. The dark green curvaceous corner and salmon pink stools of the Fountain Coffee Shop at the posh Beverly Hills Hotel.

The designs speak of elegance, class and gracious living, the hallmarks of vintage Southern California style from the 1920s through the 1970s. The master architect of this age of grace was the late Paul R. Williams, the pioneering architect whose imaginative residential, commercial and municipal designs established modern Los Angeles as the epicenter of casual ease.

Even more astounding than the breadth and volume of Williams work is that he was able to accomplish so much, both professionally and personally, as a Black man in a segregated society during the early years of his career. The architect's extraordinary life story is being told in two books, Paul R. Williams, Architect: A Legacy of Style and The Will and the Way, both written by his granddaughter Karen E. Hudson.

"I wanted a book that people could pick up off their coffee table and say, |I can't believe a Black man did all this,'" Hudson says, explaining why she decided to produce the book. "He practiced for so many years that there are people who are familiar with his work from |20s and '30s, but don't know about his later work. And people who know about his later work, but don't know about the things in the beginning. I kept saying |They need to know that this man greatly influenced our lives.'"

To ensure that Black children are aware of Williams' architectural contributions, Hudson wrote the second book, The Will and the Way. The book accounts Williams' life and work for younger readers. "I think that writing the book was not only necessary as a granddaughter, in terms of preserving his integrity, but as an African-American who wants to inspire future generations," Hudson says. "It was very important to my grandfather and very important to me that every Black kid growing up knows that, if he or she wants to, they can be an architect."

Since Ebony has one of the largest collections of photographs of Williams' designs, we are presenting an exclusive photographic retrospective of his life and career.

Born in Los Angeles on Feb. 18, 1894, Paul Revere Williams was the son of Chester and Lila Williams. Orphaned by the age of four, the youngster was raised by a foster mother. A natural artist, Williams spent hours drawing everything he saw with his natural eye and in his mind's eye. His renderings caught the eye of a local builder who encouraged him to consider a career in architecture. He did.

After graduating from Polytechnic High School, he attended the Los Angeles School of Art and the Los Angeles branch of the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design. Williams won numerous design competitions, often edging out more experienced architects.

Williams worked in several architectural firms before earning his license to practice architecture in California in 1921. Two years later he established his own firm. He often amazed clients with his ability to draw upside down as he sketched their dream homes while he sat across the desk. In many cases, according to stories he told later, he won commissions by working twice as hard as his competitors. On one occasion, a potential client outlined his wishes to Williams and two White architects and asked them when he could see a finished drawing. One of the White architects said a month. The other said two weeks. Williams said, "tomorrow morning." True to his word, he worked all night and won the commission. After one year in private practice, he became the first African-American member and later the first African-American fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

The talented draftsman, who designed some 3,000 projects in the United States, Colombia and France, earned his reputation as "the architect to the stars" for the homes he designed for Tyrone Power, William (Bojangles) Robinson, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz and other Hollywood legends.

Frank Sinatra personally selected Williams to design the singer's "ultimate bachelor pad." The low-slung Hollywood Hills home was a masterpiece of modernity with its numerous electronically controlled features considered futuristic in the late 1950s.

"Being a bachelor," Sinatra told Williams, "I don't want a large house. Just something small and livable." The star then flew off to Spain to make a film, leaving the project in the hands of Williams and his daughter, Norma Williams Harvey, an interior decorator.

Williams' architectural achievements extended well beyond palatial homes and rustic retreats. His municipal designs include the theme building at the Los Angeles International Airport, the Los Angeles County Courthouse and the U.S. Naval Station at Long Beach, Calif. And his commercial creations include Perino's restaurant, Chasen's restaurant and the Palm Springs Tennis Club.