Rizzoli Paul R. Williams: Classic Hollywood Style

A dazzling tour of this prolific architect’s most spectacular houses, by his granddaughter, Karen E. Hudson, now republished with a new introduction and foreword. Over the course of a career spanning six decades, Paul Revere Williams came to define what gracious living looked like for many of the elite in Hollywood. Williams mastered an array of architectural idioms—including Spanish Mediterranean, English Tudor, French Normandy, Art Deco, and of course the California Ranch style—to create the sophisticated yet understated showplaces that are gloriously featured here. One of the most celebrated architects of his generation, Williams was also the first African American member of the American Institute of Architects, and he was deeply involved in the Black community in Los Angeles and in Black affairs nationally. Williams moved among many worlds, and with such celebrity clients as Frank Sinatra and Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, not to mention members of Los Angeles high society, Williams left his signature on virtually every one of the city’s most glamorous and exclusive enclaves—Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Bel Air, the Hollywood Hills.