Williams designed nearly 3,000 buildings in Southern California and beyond
Paul Revere Williams, the pioneering black architect who designed nearly 3,000 buildings during his five-decade career, has been posthumously awarded the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Gold Medal, which honors an individual whose significant body of work has had a lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture.
Williams, who was born in Los Angeles in 1894 and orphaned when he was four years old, broke down many barriers: He was the first black architect to become a member of the AIA (in 1923), the first black member to be inducted into the Institute?s College of Fellows (in 1957), and, today, the first African-American to receive the AIA Gold Medal. After attending the University of Southern California, where he designed several residential buildings while still a student, and after a stint working for architect John C. Austin, Williams opened his own practice in the early 1920s during Southern California?s real estate boom.

Photo via The Paul Revere Williams Project
The architect.

Williams gained fame for his residential designs, from small, affordable houses for new homeowners, to Tudor Revivals for his more affluent clients, to show-stopping mansions for stars and business magnates like Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Frank Sinatra, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Barbara Stanwyck, and Barron Hilton. Working mostly in the areas of Lo...