![]() The construction of this church was given to Paul Williams after the original church (located in Azusa St.) was razed down. 28-th Street YMCA – Https://Spectracompany.Com/Project/28th-st-ymca/ Credited To Spectra Company And Clifford Beers Housing 28-th Street YMCA – Https://Spectracompany.Com/Project/28th-st-ymca/ Credited To Spectra Company And Clifford Beers Housing 28-th Street YMCA – Https://Spectracompany.Com/Project/28th-st-ymca/ Credited To Spectra Company And Clifford Beers Housing 2. The Spanish Colonial Revival style, which was spreading wildly in California, the Beaux-Arts sensibilities are well gelled with the colonial carvings, shingles, and exterior stucco, giving the YMCA building an edge over other structures around. ![]() Paul Williams’s career launched perfectly from there onwards. This Spanish Colonial Revival style building was a safe place for them to partake in their right to celebrate, providing recreational facilities for African-Americans in these tough times. This building remains one of the few founded, designed by and for African-Americans, especially during the racial segregation period that prevailed in the U.S.A. There are still a very small number of architects who are African American in the US. Hope you take a look and learn more about him. Here is a link to a book about him Paul R Williams. Here is a recent article about him in Fast Company. Some of the houses allowed African Americans to own them – which was very uncommon. Architect Williams also designed affordable housing across the country. He is famous for designing houses for rich and famous people in Hollywood, like Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball, and Bert Lahr (who was the cowardly lion in the movie, “The Wizard of Oz.”) Williams is also known for designing many public buildings like the very recognizable tower at the Los Angeles Airport that looks like a hollowed dome with a suspended structure in the center. He was the first African-American west of the Mississippi to get that certification. In 1921, he was certified as an architect. He literally learned how to draw UPSIDE DOWN because of racism.Īrchitect Paul Revere Williams designed many structures at a time when very few people of color had the opportunity to practice architecture. ![]() Instead, Williams figured out that if he sat facing them and drew UPSIDE DOWN, then they could see what he was proposing without any feelings of discomfort for the client. He knew that white clients would not have wanted a black man to stand up over them and show their work because it might be intimidating for the white man. He was forced to figure out a way to work as a black man with white clients. He didn’t learn to draw upside down like you might learn to hang from the monkey bars upside down, just for fun. This is an unusual and rather peculiar skill. He was an excellent draftsman (someone who makes architectural drawings) and he could even draw upside down. Back in his day, it was almost unheard of. Being a black man was (and continues to be) unusual in the field of architecture. Williams was a remarkable architect because he designed so many different types of buildings well, because he was a design innovator and a design thinker.
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