9/6/2023 0 Comments Paul williams architect houses![]() Brown and in 1967 it became the site of Kurt Kerkorian’s International Hotel (Westgate) and the exclusive Las Vegas Country Club. After a series of false starts, the land was eventually sold to investor Joe W. Envisioned as a premiere racetrack, the excitement of horse racing never quite took off in Las Vegas as it was unable to compete with slot machines, table games and lavish resorts. In 1953, Williams’ Las Vegas work reached a new level of prominence with the opening of Las Vegas Park on Paradise Road, just south of the city limits. Many of the homes have remained in the hands of the original family owners. Berkley Square was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. The 148-home community filled a void in Las Vegas, and was soon occupied by several prominent African American families, including doctors, casino workers, retail employees and civil rights advocates. ![]() Construction didn’t take place until 1954 when the community was officially recorded as Berkley Square, named after primary project financier Thomas Berkley, a distinguished attorney, media owner, developer, and civil rights advocate from Oakland. Originally known as Westside Park, Williams designed two, two-bedroom homes in 1949. Planning efforts for a community built by and for the Black community in Las Vegas began in 1947, when a group of investors along with the City of Las Vegas petitioned the Federal Housing Administration to develop a 40-acre parcel on the historic Westside which would provide federally insured housing loans to the home buyers. Williams undertook a second housing project in Las Vegas in the late 1940s that had significant impact on the town’s African American community. The foundations of the former development could still be seen from Lake Mead Parkway for another 30 years after demolition, until nearly all of them fell into the path of new development. Carver park stood on Lake Mead Drive (Parkway) until 1974, when all but one building (the present day Elks Lodge) was demolished. After the war ended, the demand for magnesium fell and Carver Park was no longer needed for temporary housing. This housing community became known as Carver Park, which consisted of 498 dwelling units in one, two and three bedroom configurations plus a large dormitory. Las Vegas was a segregated community during this time period, and to house its Black employees, Williams was called in to design a supply of temporary housing. ![]() ![]() BMI imported a crew of 13,000 workers to the Mojave Desert, 3,000 of whom were African American laborers from Arkansas and Louisiana. Magnesium was in short supply at the time, necessary as a lightweight metal for the construction of airplanes and other materials critical to the war effort. Williams, widely regarded as the first African American member of the AIA in 1923, had built a successful Southern California practice designing over 2,000 residences ranging from humble bungalows to sprawling estates for Hollywood’s elite.Īt the height of World War II, Basic Magnesium Incorporated (BMI) built a plant in what would eventually become Henderson, Nevada. ![]() Legendary midcentury architect Paul Revere Williams had a long-standing involvement with Las Vegas that began in the early 1940s and lasted through the 1960s. ![]()
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