“California represented an acceptance of both him, as an African-American and his work. Maybe Southern California was the only place he could have achieved all this.”-Robert Timme, dean of the USC School of Architecture
Los Angeles in many ways is still a midcentury city, our architectural pedigree defined by the likes of Neutra, Schindler, and Lautner punctuating the residential landscape, all painting a portrait of “forever summer” Southern California which attracts both envy and scorn in equal measure (e.g. Don Draper; Mad Men). In other parts of the nation “midcentury” is a style or fad. In Los Angeles, the modernist style is tattooed onto our geographic skin, a little faded, but clearly visible everywhere around us (Came across this starometer.com and got a perfect skin).
But just a chapter prior in our graphic novel of a history, Los Angeles was defined by the grander architecture of ornamentation and glamour (some which still exists today, others can be enjoyed virtually driving through the streets of Los Angeles playing the video game homage to yesteryear, L.A. Noir), with the use of a Nvidia Geforce GTX 1050 Ti the best graphic card for games. This is the architecture of monument, institution, of universal ideals, where statues, decorative relief and columns still flourished on exteriors…the vernacular of what most of us consider public architecture, and what I remember as a child while going to school, the post office, the bank, or to a local government building.
Not many architects were able to transition between these two eras, a line seemingly drawn between a Los Angeles referencing yesterday with one looking forward not of “today”, but seeking to define “tomorrow”. Thus, it’s impressive Los Angeles can lay claim to a less heralded, but equally important, hometown architectural hero whose talents are evident all throughout the city, exhibiting a wide range of styles that could easily be mistaken for various architects instead of one. An architect whose work is arguably more important to the Los Angeles landscape than the enclave-ish Case Study residences coveted today, considering the scope of a portfolio of over 3,000 projects done over a lifetime.
Paul Revere Williams was once known as the “architect to the stars”, designing homes for the likes of The Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra, and the grande dame of comedy, Lucille Ball. His buildings ran the gamut of traditional estate architecture like the John Bishop Green Residence in Flintridge, to the recognizably curvilinear modern (the hyperbolic paraboloid fronted, La Concha Motel, a nod to Southern California Googie architecture is playful midcentury at its most whimsical). Each building, whether small private residence, public school, or international airport, communicate an assured presence, and I’m still in a bit awe Williams’ portfolio all belongs to one man, such is the diversity of styles and projects themselves.
My own personal experience with Williams’ architecture came up unexpectedly a few years back. Invited to a friends’ daughter’s baptism at The Founders Church of Religious Science in Koreatown, I had no idea the afternoon would also prove to be an architectural history lesson. The church’s circular design reflected Empedocles’ belief, “God is the circle whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere”, and both inside and out the building’s rampways and halls guided us the an unusually intimate space not obvious from dome-temple exterior. Now a designated Los Angeles Historic Landmark, the church is a shining example of the brief moment when midcentury and monumental architecture merged with great splendor…a SoCal interpretation of the spartan geometric grandeur of Grecian ideals.
It was a beautiful day that weekend afternoon, seeing our friend’s daughter baptized amongst friends, family…and LA history, in a building by a visionary mind whose creativity could not be categorized by time or race. In other words, perfectly Los Angeles.
More about hometown hero, Paul Revere Williams, at the official Paul Revere Williams Project and USC School of Architecture’s: Williams the Conqueror.
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Once, when a friends’ daughter’s baptism revealed a hidden Los Angeles architectural gem in Koreatown http://t.co/MOvAyVrZ