Three New Exhibitions Reconsider Paul Revere Williams, the Architect Who Shaped Los Angeles

Paul Revere Williams, the first licensed Black architect in California, is the focus of three new exhibitions that argue for his inclusion among the greats of 20th-century architecture. Over a career spanning six decades until his death in 1980, Williams completed an estimated 3,000 projects, ranging from single-family residences to commercial buildings, affordable housing, and the Los Angeles County Courthouse. His celebrity clientele included Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant, and Lucille Ball, for whom he designed homes. Williams also played a key role in the construction of the Theme Building at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), a space-age structure built in the early 1960s. That building was a collaborative effort with architects William Pereira, Welton Becket, and Charles Luckman, and its in-house restaurant was designed by Walt Disney Imagineering. Together, these architects helped define Los Angeles's midcentury aesthetic, but Williams's contributions have often been overlooked due to the racism he faced as a Black architect in a segregated city. The exhibitions aim to correct that, placing his work in the broader context of his fight against racial barriers and his profound influence on the face of Los Angeles.