![]() ![]() Awards, recognition and honors During his lifetime ĭuring World War II, Williams worked for the Navy Department as an architect.ĭuring his career Williams designed over 2,000 buildings. He developed the idea of a monorail-like system called the Skylift Magi-Cab that would bring people to and from McCarran Airport and the city center. Lockheed and Guerdon Industries recruited Williams to design a concept for a car-alternative travel system in Las Vegas. Quincy Jones (1913–79) was an architect who is claimed to have hired Williams and later collaborated with him on projects in Palm Springs, including the Palm Springs Tennis Club (1947) and the Town & Country (1948) and Romanoff's on the Rocks (1948) restaurants. He worked together with Wallace Neff to design experimental Airform structures which were small homes that only took a few days to construct using simple materials. In 1939, he won the AIA Award of Merit for his design of the MCA Building in Beverly Hills (now headquarters of the Paradigm Talent Agency).Īt one point in his career Williams became interested in prefabricated structures. In 1923, Williams became the first African-American member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Austin, eventually becoming chief draftsman, before establishing his own office. įrom 1921 through 1924, Williams worked for Los Angeles architect John C. Struggling to gain attention, he served on the first Los Angeles City Planning Commission in 1920. He learned to draft upside down so that he could sit across the desk from his clients who would see his drafts right-side-up. Known as an outstanding draftsman, he perfected the skill of rendering drawings "upside down." This skill was developed because in the 1920s many of his white clients felt uncomfortable sitting directly next to a Black man. Williams won an architectural competition at age 25, and three years later opened his own office. (born and died June 30, 1925, buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Los Angeles) Marilyn Frances Williams (born December 25, 1926) and Norma Lucille Williams Harvey (born September 18, 1928).Ĭareer Poster from Office of War Information. They had three children: Paul Revere Williams Jr. Williams married Della Mae Givens on June 27, 1917, at the First AME Church in Los Angeles. Williams became a certified architect in California in 1921 and the first certified African-American architect west of the Mississippi. He studied architectural engineering from 1916 to 1919 at the University of Southern California, where he earned his degree, designing several residential buildings while a student there. He studied at the Los Angeles School of Art and Design and at the Los Angeles branch of the New York Beaux-Arts Institute of Design Atelier, subsequently working as a landscape architect with Wilbur Cook, Jr. Williams was the only African-American student in his elementary school. His father died in 1896 from tuberculosis and his mother two years later from the same illness, leaving the boys in foster care. Paul was born in Los Angeles on February 18, 1894. They migrated to Los Angeles in 1893 with their son, Chester, to start a fruit business, but were not successful. Williams came from a family of middle class Memphis residents: Chester Stanley and Lila Wright Williams. He also designed many public and private buildings. He practiced mostly in Southern California and designed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Lon Chaney, Barbara Stanwyck and Charles Correll. Paul Revere Williams, FAIA (February 18, 1894 – January 23, 1980) was an American architect based in Los Angeles, California. 1938 First Church of Christ, Scientist (Reno, Nevada)ġ940 Pueblo del Rio Housing Development (joint venture)ġ948 Golden State Mutual Life Los Angelesġ9 Perino's Restaurant (alterations of existing buildings)ġ953 Imperial Courts Housing Development, Los Angelesġ964 Beverly Sunset Medical Center Los Angeles
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