A&E

A new photography exhibit highlights Paul Revere Williams’ architectural influence in Nevada

Image
Janna Ireland’s photo of the interior of Paul Revere Williams’ Guardian Angel Cathedral in Las Vegas
Courtesy of Artist

In a new exhibit at Nevada State Museum, photographs highlight the local legacy of Paul Revere Williams (1894-1980), the first licensed Black architect to work in the western U.S.

After a first run at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno, the exhibit gives Las Vegas an opportunity to appreciate Williams’ designs, as photographed by Janna Ireland. It also contextualizes architectural landmarks that can be spotted around town, says Carmen Beals, associate curator and outreach director with the Nevada Museum of Art.

Janna Ireland’s photo of Paul Revere Williams’ Guardian Angel Cathedral in Las Vegas

Janna Ireland’s photo of Paul Revere Williams’ Guardian Angel Cathedral in Las Vegas

“Within a few miles, you’re able to see the La Concha Motel lobby, which now actually serves the Neon Museum,” Beals says. Characterized by extreme, parabola-shaped eaves, the now-Neon Museum visitor center once was vestibule to a motel that hosted the rich and famous of the 1960s.

“It was so highly styled at that time, using a style called ‘Googie’ architecture, that when it opened, celebrities would stay there, like Muhammad Ali, the Carpenters and even Ronald Reagan,” Beals says. The atomic and space age-inspired architecture that helped sell Las Vegas to rich and famous vacationers, was designed by Williams.

Ireland, an LA-based photographer whose work had mostly focused on family life before she began shooting architecture, spent six years capturing Williams’ buildings in Southern California and, more recently, Nevada. “More recently, I learned of Williams’ special relationship to the state of Nevada and his many projects there,” reads Ireland’s artist statement. “The scope of his projects in Nevada … demonstrates Williams’ unique mix of interests and abilities.”

Of more than 3,000 buildings Williams is estimated to have designed through the course of his career, at least seven projects were in Las Vegas—a racetrack building, a hotel, two motels, housing for hundreds of Basic Magnesium plant employees in the southeast Valley, 148 contemporary ranch-style homes in West Las Vegas, and Guardian Angel Cathedral on the Strip.

In 2017, 37 years after his death, the American Institute of Architects awarded Williams the AIA Gold Medal, their highest honor recognizing those who have made “lasting” impacts in the field of architecture.

Ireland’s documentation and the exhibit overall brings into focus that Williams’ experience and popularity as an “architect to the stars” was not mirrored in his personal life. The reality of racism and segregation policies of the early 20th century kept Williams at a distance from the very spaces he fashioned.

“His work was very prevalent in Beverly Hills, the Palisades, Hancock Park, all of those prestigious places that loved what he did, but racial covenants at the time would not allow him to actually stay there,” Beals explains.

Janna Ireland’s photo of Paul Revere Williams’ El Reno Apartments in Reno

Janna Ireland’s photo of Paul Revere Williams’ El Reno Apartments in Reno

Racial covenants enforced in LA and Las Vegas made it illegal for Black people to live in white neighborhoods. Although Williams designed the Beverly Hills Hotel, Frank Sinatra’s Hollywood home and Lucille Ball’s Palm Springs mansion, he was never welcomed to live in those lush settings.

Discrimination pervaded in Las Vegas, too. In the 1930s, Black residents were prohibited from gambling, lodging or residing in the same spaces as whites. Amid that, Williams designed Berkley Square in 1949, the premier residential neighborhood in what is known today as the Historic Westside, where the Black community first found footing and thrived in the segregated city.

“This was owned by the first African American physician in Las Vegas,” Beals says, referencing one of the homes pictured in the exhibit. “He and his wife purchased a second home in Berkeley Square to house Black entertainers, who were not permitted to stay in the casinos on the Strip.”

In accordance with Williams’ character, stills of the Berkley Square homes—functional, single-story floor plans with yard space—convey a sense of adaptability and endurance, and bear testament to the visionary’s indelible shaping of Las Vegas’ built environment.

Janna Ireland on the Architectural Legacy of Paul Revere Williams in Nevada Thru May 30; Thursday-Monday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., $5-$10 admission. Nevada State Museum (at Springs Preserve), lasvegasnvmuseum.org.

Click HERE to subscribe for free to the Weekly Fix, the digital edition of Las Vegas Weekly! Stay up to date with the latest on Las Vegas concerts, shows, restaurants, bars and more, sent directly to your inbox!

Share
Photo of Shannon Miller

Shannon Miller

Shannon Miller joined Las Vegas Weekly in early 2022 as a staff writer. Since 2016, she has gathered a smorgasbord ...

Get more Shannon Miller
  • The Tony Award-winning musical “Follies” will take the stage at Access Showroom at Aliante Casino & Hotel for six performances starting on April 11.

  • Since opening at the Linq Promenade in March 2014, Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas has been a destination for some of the best and most under-appreciated ...

  • Sagittarius, for your own selfish sake, you need to pour out more adoration and care and compassion than you ever have before.

  • Get More A&E Stories
Top of Story