Born to Chester Stanley and Lila Wright Williams, Paul Revere Williams (1894-1980) braved a challenging adolescence to become one of the defining architects of his era, shattering expectations and prejudice, all while beautifying landscapes across the country. Before his fourth birthday, Williams’ father and mother had both passed away from tuberculosis, resulting in he and his brother being sent to separate foster homes. In school, Williams was often isolated in his experience as a Black student, sometimes even facing direct confrontation from teachers; upon expressing his interest in pursuing architecture as a career, William’s high school teacher stated plainly: “Who ever heard of a Negro architect?” Williams reflected on his transition from student to working architect – having graduated from Polytechnic High School in 1912 and enrolling in a three-year architectural engineering program at University of Southern California in 1916 – in a 1937 essay for American Magazine, titled “I Am a Negro”. In his writing, Williams stated that his goal was to “force white people to consider [him] as an individual rather than a member of a race”.
Carver Park c. A Legacy Revered
In 1921, Williams became a certified architect after having been appointed to the inaugural Los Angeles City Planning Commission the year prior. 1923 proved a monumental year for Williams: not only did he establish his own practice, Paul Williams & Associates, but he also became the first “African-American member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA)”. While cementing himself as a prolific Los Angeles architect – designing “the Los Angeles courthouse, the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Building, Hillside Memorial Park” among others – Williams began to expand to neighboring Nevada, with particular attention paid to the Las Vegas area. With the onset of World War II, Williams began a period of “war work,” which notably included the Carver Park complex for Black employees working at the segregated-Basic Magnesium Incorporated (BMI). Carver Park was intentionally built in an elegant style “unlike the houses in the South that many {Black laborers] left behind”.
Today, the area in which BMI was located is known as Henderson, Nevada. Despite his best efforts, by the time Carver Park opened in 1943, most “Black workers had already settled just west of the tracks near downtown Las Vegas in area called the Westside”.
In addition to designing the groundbreaking Black housing development, Berkley Square, on the Westside of Las Vegas, Williams’ body of work in the Las Vegas area was eclectic, and also included horse racing tracks, casinos, and a cathedral. Each of these endeavors exemplify Williams’ willingness to experiment with architectural and design conventions. While the Las Vegas Park horse racing track proved a troubled business undertaking, Williams’ design was purely elegant, featuring “graceful lines intersecting with slating angles” inspired by his hope for Las Vegas’ exciting future prospects. His work along the Las Vegas Strip, from the Royal Nevada Resort and Casino to the iconic La Concha Motel, helped to redefine the design of hospitality and gaming venues in the city, contributing to the legacy of Las Vegas as a varied collection of differing design typologies existing side-by-side. Both the La Concha Motel and Williams’ Guardian Angel Cathedral – a project commissioned by organized crime figure Moe Dalitz, allegedly in an attempt to clean up his image – still stand to this day, both buildings renowned for their uniqueness.
Berkley Square c. A Legacy Revered
Royal Nevada Postcard, part of The Neon Museum Collection
La Concha Photograph, part of the Museum’s Vince Lardinois Collection
Guardian Angel Cathedral c. Paul R Williams Project
One project, however, that failed to materialize despite his best efforts, was Williams’ proposed Skylift Magi-Cab, meant to be a citywide monorail system designed in a space-age, “post-Sputnik” style.
In 1957, Williams became the “first African-American to be inducted into AIA College of Fellows”. 50 years later, Williams would also receive the AIA’s prestigious Gold Medal, the highest honor for an architect in the country. Since his retirement in 1973 and his passing in 1980, Williams’s life and career have been commemorated in many ways, including a 2023 proclamation officially declaring February 18 as Paul Revere Williams Day in Nevada, citing his “architectural contributions [which] collectively helped redefine the built environment of the western region of the United States” (Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo, 2023).
