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Paul Revere Williams

By Anonymous
Degnan Residence, La Canada Flintridge, 1927
Degnan Residence, La Canada Flintridge, 1927

Paul Revere Williams’ (1894–1980) work as an architect continues to stand the test of time. He continues to be known for an extremely impressive portfolio of home design in Southern California spanning nearly 2,500 projects. To this day, demand remains incredibly high for his signature houses. Bret Parsons, head of an architectural division of real estate brokerage handling high end properties in Beverly Hills, reiterates this in emphasizing that “They’re an absolute pedigree for someone to have in their arsenal” (Bates). Many of the most popular houses include luxurious expressions made for many of Hollywood’s stars and celebrities of the time. Notably, houses of Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball, Cary Grant, Danny Thomas are some names that lived in Williams’ conceptions. On the theme of luxury, his portfolio also includes the architecture and visual identity for the iconic  Beverly Hills Hotel. Pictured below, his work carries incredible cultural significance in this Californian mythos surrounding the golden era of Hollywood. Grand entrances, cozy layout design, curving staircases are all signature touches that Williams’ incorporated into both high end and his community works. 

Entrance to the Beverly Hills Hotel, designed by Paul Revere Williams

Williams’ body of work is far from merely high end housing for Hollywood’s richest. After starting his own architecture practice at age 28, many projects spanned into numerous works on public spaces. He continued throughout his career to progress to include “a number of civic, cultural, and commercial projects, including churches, banks, hotels, and schools” (Hawthorne). As celebrated in a portrait below, Williams’ variety of work can be exemplified in numerous sections of LAX airport as well. Throughout all of these initiatives, his design remains timeless as a result of a challenging of both architectural visual forms and social acceptance within the industry. 

Shulman's portrait of Williams in front of the Theme Building at LAX

Even with his tremendous talent and amassing catalog of architecture, Williams’ had to confront his race continuously as one of the only architects of his stature in the 1920’s. His granddaughter highlights this tension in her explanation in an interview with NPR how he “taught himself to draw upside down so white clients wouldn’t be uncomfortable sitting next to him” (Bates). Furthermore, many of the neighborhoods of his projects used restrictive covenants to prevent individuals of his skin color or race to inhabit properties. Even in seemingly “progressive” western states like California, these covenants offer one insight into how restrictive structural racism works to divide. Through perseverance, Paul Revere Williams’ legacy is one of innovation and craftsmanship. In many facets, Williams was a pioneer in using design and architecture to traverse beyond racially segregating social systems.

Work Cited

Bates, Karen Grigsby. “A Trailblazing Black Architect Who Helped Shape L.A.” /NPR/, NPR, 22 June 2012, www.npr.org/2012/06/22/155442524/a-trailblazing-black-architect-who-helped-shape-l-a.

Hawthorne, Christopher. “Paul Revere Williams: From the Center to the Margins and Back Again.” Architectmagazine.com, Architect Magazine, 17 Apr. 2017, www.architectmagazine.com/awards/aia-honor-awards/paul-revere-williams-from-the-center-to-the-margins-and-back-again_o.


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