Countless books scattered across my room, I was in the midst of research for my senior independent study project, but I did not know what I was searching for yet. I was delving into the architectural history of Los Angeles with an interest in investigating the topic of preservation. After perusing various outlets, I stumbled upon a note in the L.A. Times Archives published on April 4, 2014. Marcia Selz, the former president of the Holmby Hills Homeowners Association wrote:
The article describing the work of Los Angeles architect Paul Williams was bittersweet (“Master Class,” by Leslee Komaiko, Metropolis, March 7). Williams is known for his significant contributions to our city’s landscape, yet his work faces the threat of destruction. Surely Harvard-Westlake School can find a preservation solution to keep the Morris Landau residence in its historic location. Williams overcame enormous obstacles to achieve success. We should not have to remember his visionary work from pictures. As L.A. residents, we should show respect for our history and speak up for the preservation of Williams’ buildings.
I was captivated. Not only had I never heard of Paul Revere Williams, but the building being discussed had once been located on my middle school campus. I started investigating the Morris Landau building, admiring the black-and-white photos of the home. What’s more was the impression the architect behind the treasure made on me.
Paul Revere William, who was Black, was born in 1894, at a time when Los Angeles real estate was still deeply segregated. When Paul Williams first began his career, much of the demographic layout of Los Angeles was bleak; dirt roads connected oil fields and vast farms, an agrarian reality that starkly contrasts the urban, vibrant, and bustling City of Angels we know today.
Nonetheless, by 1920 the greater area of Southern California underwent a massive boom in the real estate market, creating high demands for homes, which created opportunities for well-trained architects. The population of Los Angeles reached one million in 1930, and the city was booming with residents who had money and wanted to carve out their slice of land. As author Janna Ireland explained in her book “Regarding Paul R. Williams: A Photographer’s View,” there were numerous “white people liberal or desperate enough” to hire a Black architect for their projects since they wanted them to be executed quickly and had the finances to spare. It was then that Paul Revere Williams started his prolific career as an architect of both personal and commercial spaces, achieving outstanding notoriety with his elegant and refined work that appealed to people with money, notwithstanding celebrities.
Magnetized by his resilience and indefatigable insistence on success despite racial injustice, I learned that he had to develop the ability to sketch buildings upside down to appease white clients who were uncomfortable sitting next to him. I also discovered that when he visited construction sites, he walked with hands behind his back to be amenable to white people who would not want to shake his hand. Most astonishing to me was that many of the places where his home was built were exclusively white. Los Angeles was fraught with restrictive covenants that barred people of color from spending the night in particular neighborhoods or owning land deeds.
With all this in mind, I look at Paul Revere Williams as an individual whose work not only contributed significantly to the development of the visual landscape of Los Angeles, but also as an important figure who represents the vastly ignored, overlooked, or undermined contributions of the Black community. For these reasons, his work is important to preserve in the specific locations it was created to honor his legacy and perseverance, and I found it particularly intriguing that my academic institution overlooked this issue and removed his structure. Preservation is a challenging topic. It forces us to reimagine the relationship between the past and the future. It allows us to celebrate astounding achievements but also drives us to reconcile with the shadows of injustice. For this reason, while it may not be easy to explore preservation, learning about Paul Revere Williams taught me that it is an important issue to consider.
The complicated balance between preservation and modern urban development is difficult to achieve, but it cannot be forgotten. How, what, and why do we protect certain structures, while we tear down others? These questions require careful consideration, as preservation is a reflection of what society deems important and values. Although it is impossible to preserve every single one of his projects, especially since he was such a prolific architect, it is important to safeguard a diverse body of Paul Revere William’s work found throughout Los Angeles neighborhoods.
