“Regarding Paul R. Williams: A Photographer’s View of a Trailblazing Architect” is a photographic exploration of the work of the first American Institute of Architects (AIA)-certified Black architect west of the Mississippi River. Known as “Hollywood’s Architect”, Paul Revere Williams was a Los Angeles native who built a wildly successful career as an architect decades before the Civil Rights Movement. He designed municipal buildings and private homes as well as banks, churches, hospitals, and university halls.
He designed public housing projects and mansions for celebrities like Frank Sinatra and Lucille Ball.
Ball and Desi Arnaz commissioned renowned architect Paul R. Williams to design their
4,400-square-foot weekend retreat in 1954.
In 1923, Williams became the first Black member of the American Institute of Architects. In 2017, nearly forty years after his death, he became the first Black recipient of the AIA Gold Medal.
Major Los Angeles art institutions have scheduled a coordinated series of exhibitions celebrating the life and work of Paul R. Williams and the unique impact he had on the architectural world:
Paul R. Williams: An Architect Considered
USC Fisher Museum of Art
August 18, 2026–March 13, 2027
Paul R. Williams: Architect for Living
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
November 15, 2026–May 23, 2027
Paul R. Williams: Architecture Across the Color Line
Getty Research Institute
December 15, 2026–July 18, 2027
These exhibitions, and this new edition of “Regarding Paul R. Williams,” shine a renewed spotlight on an architect of true significance to Los Angeles, having shaped public buildings, family homes, and the city's tone during a pivotal period of development and change.
Also, online: Paul R Williams, A Man and His Work
