Paul R. Williams Architect [Paperback]

Karen E. Hudson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 19, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0847822427 | ISBN-13: 978-0847822423

One of the most prolific Los Angeles architects, Paul R. Williams had an extraordinary career extending from the 1920's to the 1970's. HIs vast body of built work stretches across the world-from Paris and Colombia to Washington, D.C., New York, and Memphis. However, the Los Angeles area was his personal and professional focus.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

One of the most prominent African-American architects in America, Williams was one of very few to attain fellowship status in the American Institute of Architects. He practiced in his native city, Los Angeles, for 50 years, from the 1920s to the 1960s, during which time he designed all manner of commissions: from trendy restaurants to post offices to private residences, including that of Frank Sinatra. Stylistically, his work ran the gamut from the most conservative historic revivalism to the most futuristic modern design. This loving tribute and compendium of his work is presented to us by his granddaughter. Recommended for academic libraries and large architecture collections.
- Peter Kaufman, Boston Architectural Ctr.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

KAREN E. HUDSON, a third generation Angeleno, is the granddaughter of Paul R. Williams and director of his archives. She chronicles the African-American experience in Los Angeles in writings and photographs.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Rizzoli (February 19, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0847822427
• ISBN-13: 978-0847822423
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #917,106 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Eclectic Design Aesthetic, April 21, 2000

By 

Jessica Fields (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paul R Williams, Architect (Hardcover)

Paul Williams' archtectural designs, which are photographed quite beautifully in this survey of his work, are rather varied in style. He ranges from traditional English tudor homes, such as the San Rafael cover photo, to futuristic buildings, such as the building now named Encounter at the Los Angeles airport. His buildings and private homes explore the radical changes in design that have spanned the 20th century.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars America's Greatest Unselfish Architect, February 15, 2002

By 

Conrade C. Hinds "chinds1" (Columbus, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paul R Williams, Architect (Hardcover)

Thank you Karen Hudson. Finally, the American public can learn that a great Architect is not just the arrogant Frank L. Wright that abandoned his wife and six children to run off with a client's wife to further practice his art. This book is about a cultured, hard working, creative and civic minded Black American Architect. In overcoming the racial adversity of the twentith century, Mr. Williams produced three times more work than Wright because of the confidence he instilled in his clients as an Architect that cared about their needs first and not his personal wants. Frank L. Wright regarded himself as America's greatest Architect because of his "honest arrogants" and most American Schools of Architecture promote this narrow view. But the American general public deserves better and should know that they have it. And this book illustrates that Mr. Paul Revere Williams, FAIA is by far one of "Our" greatest Architects by virtue of his Honest Integrity. Hence, he stands as a role model for all future American generations. And by that virtue recognition of his work must continue with more books like this and recorded oral histories from persons still alive that knew and worked with him.

This book is really two books in one. On one hand it is an excellent biography. But, it is an interesting look at the homes of surprisingly, Movie Stars from the Golden era of Hollywood.

A movie about Mr. Williams would be far better than the movie the Fountainhead, where an architect name Rouke blows up a large building project because of his hurt arrogant pride. And an American court of law finds him not guilty in the end. Hmmm and the setting for the Fountainhead was New York City, home of the former World Trade Center.

There are many books about Wright's arrogants. But the times in America today call for the integrity of Mr. Paul R.Williams to grace the coffee tables and personal libraries of the land.

Conrade C. Hinds, Architect

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Paul R. Williams, March 25, 2003

By 

Yasmain (New York, New York, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paul R. Williams Architect (Paperback)

In 1868 the proposed amendment to Congress, was passed by the Senate to abrogate servitude on the shores of the Americas. Thus, it would seem exceptional to some, that only twenty-eight years later on the West Coast of the same shores had begun the legacy of an African American architect and the ascension of over 3,000 architectural structures. That architect was
Paul R. Williams.
Yet it was known in many circles that descendants of servitude were making strives in many a pursuit and occupation. Scientists, inventors, publishers, congressmen, and diplomats, the list is extensive. However, there is relatively très très peu known about the quality of Paul R. Williams, the architect. His granddaughter, Karen E. Hudson, the director of the PRWs archives, documents a veritable gold-mine of history within the annals of these pages. Although troubled by the "driving while black" phenomena, Paul R. Williams took the Booker T. Washington "bootstrap" premise to heart and created an empire of structures on the West Coast (Los Angeles in particular) and universally.
A Legacy of Style is a collection of Williams' work from the 1920s to the 1960s. Prefacing with a conspectus on his life and continuing with a preliminary from David Gebhard, (architectural historian and curator), that traces PRW from his beginnings and interprets the style and significance of his life's work. Splayed throughout the pages are brief narratives from voluminous articles and books of Williams' writings. Through the photographs, illustrations, captions and dreams, the reader unearths the flavor of this architect's nearly six decades of elegance and polish, signature homes, characteristic PRW curves, sleekly designed molding and particularly his "refinement and high taste". Williams' affinity with the traditional and sensitivity to the modern allowed for a lasting style of moderne classique. Yet his style expands further, from Byzantine to European Gothic, to Colonial to the Pueblo, from Romanesque to the English Tudor, Paul R. Williams envelops it all. In the 1930s, Williams reprised the neoclassic style of the relationship between interior and exterior, as in his Jay Paley residence in Bel Air. With this, the inhabitants would embrace a sense freedom. He was at ease in working with diverse styles and locations, from the Beverly Hills Hotel to the Compton Housing Project.
The advances Williams made despite the impediments would inspire the reader. The skills, such as drawing upside-down at a desk for his clients and developing the psychology of marketing his work were all elements of his craftsmanship, acumen, restraint and his concentration to detail. Being Black, he had faced difficulties that made him a " . . . far better craftsman today than I would be had my course been free." The reader will absorb his thoughts and hopes of being seen as an individual and his metamorphosis of his politicization of "being a Negro".
Unfortunately, Williams was unable to complete some of the wishes he had for building in Nigeria nor did he complete the autobiography of his life, but Hudson fulfills an exquisite task in this preservation. Yes, a little known book that should be in everyone's home is also an essential chronicle for the student of architecture. Paul R. Williams, an exceptional man of character, has left us a legacy of style.

Yasmain Broady-Soya...