The work of Paul Revere Williams in Las Vegas
Paul R. Williams was a transformative figure in modern architecture: the first Black architect licensed to practice in the U.S. west of the Mississippi; the first Black member of the American Institute of Architects; the Institute’s first Black Fellow. Williams has inspired books, documentaries, and exhibits. Nevertheless, his work, business, and organization of Paul Williams & Associates remains understudied due to the inaccessibility of his archive.1
Some ten built and un-built Williams & Associates projects in Las Vegas, spanning the late '30s to mid '60s, are known about largely through newspapers and secondary sources. Williams was not a licensed architect in Nevada until 1968.2 Did Williams do hands-on work on these projects, or direct associates? Unknown. Williams himself was in Las Vegas during plans for a hotel in 1939, and at the groundbreaking of Guardian Angel Cathedral in 1962. Was he in Las Vegas on other occasions? Also unknown.
Below is a brief overview of the known Paul Williams & Associates projects in Las Vegas and Clark County, Nevada.
Never built: Hotel project planned in 1939
Paul R. Williams and Wayne McAllister were to be the architects of a Las Vegas hotel in late 1939. The location was described as “between Boulder Dam and LA Highway"34 (today’s Las Vegas Strip). Californians John Barkley and Everett (brother of Bing) Crosby of Nevada Hotel Corp. planned a hotel “patterned after the famous Agua Caliente." This description, the era, and the association of Wayne McAllister is similar to that of El Rancho Vegas (1941), now regarded as the “first resort on the Las Vegas Strip,” however this was a different projects predating El Rancho Vegas. Paul Williams and John Barkley were said to be in Las Vegas doing "soil tests and surveys of the land" in Dec. 1939.56 That was the last word on the effort.
Carver Park, Henderson (1942-1943)
Williams was involved in the planning for Carver Park, Henderson, Nevada, built by Basic Magnesium Inc. (BMI) for African-American workers. It was completed in 1943.78 Harry Hayden Whiteley, an associate of Williams, came to Henderson in 1942 to work for McNeil Construction Company designing workers' housing for the BMI plant.9 Whether Whiteley was involved with Williams in Carver Park is unknown, but Whiteley was connected with at least two other Williams projects in the Las Vegas area.
Berkley Square (1949-1954)
The Berkley Square neighborhood planned in the late 40s10 is the first subdivision to be built in Las Vegas for African-American residents. The district bounded by D Street, Byrnes, Leonard, and G Street, includes 148 homes built in 1954-1955. Berkley Square was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009 for its association with the civil rights movement in Las Vegas.111213
Never built: New Horizon Hotel (planned in 1945-1946)
“Sinatra’s Resort Hotel” was the front-page headline announcing the plans in Las Vegas.14 Concepts for the ultra modernist resort were revealed in Architectural Forum’s Nov. 1945 issue with designs by Adrian Wilson and Thorton M. Abell. The only mention of Williams with the project came in the article following the Sinatra headline: “Paul Williams, internationally known architect and present resident of Los Angeles, is designing the resort.” Subsequent reports of the project only referenced investor lawsuits.
Las Vegas Park Race Track (1949-1953)
Joe Smoot hired Arthur Frochlich and Paul R. Williams to design the race track building & grandstand.15 Construction began in summer of 1950, and by the following year the business was bankrupt. The park was completed and opened in 1953, sputtered, changed hands, and was demolished in 1965.
Flamingo Hotel, north wing (1950-1951)
Las Vegas Review-Journal cited Paul Williams as designer of a 100-room, 3-floor wing to be built on the north side of Flamingo Hotel. Gus Greenbaum was president of the hotel at the time. The new wing, completed in August 1951, increased the Flamingo's total room count to 300, making it the largest hotel in Nevada of the moment.1617
Never built: Continental Hotel (planned in 1954)
Williams was reported as the architect for a desegregated resort hotel to be built by Lester L. LaFortune on Hwy 91 (Las Vegas Blvd N) in North Las Vegas.18
Nevada Square Shopping Center (completed in 1960)
Ted Griss was the landowner and developer, with Paul R Williams Associates, architect19 and Ben O. Davey, contractor. The shopping center was on Las Vegas Blvd across from Thunderbird Hotel, adjacent to a Travelodge Motel which still stands in the 2020s. The project was first announced with Paul R. Williams Associates involvement in 1953, and and not built until seven years later.20 It was demolished in 2006.
Never built: Office for Norman Kaye Real Estate Co. (circa 1960s)
The Harry Hayden Whiteley Architectural Records (MS-00134) of UNLV Special Collections & Archives contains four undated drawings for the proposed office building, Paul R. Williams, FAIA & Harry H. Whiteley, AIA, associate architects.
La Concha Motel (1961) and El Morocco Motel (1964)
These were two motels on Las Vegas Blvd, developed by M.K. Doumani, owned and operated as one. They included two modernist lobby buildings designed by Paul Williams Associates. H. H. Whiteley was involved in the design of La Concha, details of which are only known by Whiteley’s drawings for the lobby found in his papers at UNLV.21 The motel lobby closely resembles architect Félix Candela’s Los Manantiales restaurant (1958) in Mexico City, and La Concha Resort (1956) in San Juan by Osvaldo Toro, Miguel Ferrer, and Charles H. Warner Jr. The motels were demolished in the 2000s. La Concha lobby survived thanks to the efforts of local preservationists and donors. The relocated, restored lobby now serves as the Neon Museum Visitor Center, 770 Las Vegas Blvd N.
Guardian Angel Cathedral (completed in 1963)
The plans for the cathedral were first publicized in 1960 along with the cathedral rendered in a different style similar to La Concha Motel.22 The final design resembles architect Felix Candela’s Medalla de la Virgen Milagrosa Church (1954) in Mexico City. (A clipping of Candela’s church is found in H. H. Whiteley’s scrapbook at UNLV Special Collections, but we have nothing to link Whiteley with Guardian Angel.) Paul R. Williams and associate architect Claude H. Coyne attended the groundbreaking ceremony in Las Vegas on November 17, 1962.23 News reports at the time of groundbreaking said Coyne would be overseeing the project.24 The church opened October 2, 1963, and remains in use in the 2020s.
Never built: Skylift Magi-Cab (planned in 1966)
This was the first of several proposed monorail systems in Las Vegas that were never built. Materials distributed by Lockheed described Williams’ involvement as “car styling, station design and track architectural conformity … His reputation is such as to assure that all aspects of this installation will be aesthetically pleasing.”25
Paul R. Williams drawings and papers acquired by Getty Institute in 2020, as In process; unavailable, as of 2025.
Karen E. Hudson. Paul R. Williams, Architect. Rizzoli, 1993
Half million dollar hotel project outlined by Californians. Review-Journal, 11/3/39 p1
Las Vegas to Get New 90-Room Hotel. Los Angeles Times, 11/4/49 p4
Las Vegas Luxury Hotel Plans Completed. Review-Journal, 12/13/39 p.1
New Hotel Surveys Start. Review-Journal, 12/29/39 p.1
Eugene Moehring and Michael Green. Las Vegas: A Centennial History. University of Nevada Press, 2005.
Biographical Note. Finding Aid for Harry Hayden Whiteley Photograph Collection (PH-00073), UNLV Special Collections & Archives.
Famed Architect Designs Homes for Westside Park RJ 12/14/49 p.4
Thomas L. Berkley, 86 (obit), LA Times 12/31/2001
Lister, N. Civil rights proponent funded Berkley Square. Review-Journal, 3/5/2013
W. Wilcox. Sinatra Resort Hotel Underway. Review-Journal, 4/12/46
B. Dow. Smoot Picks Architect to Design Las Vegas Race Track. Review-Journal, 12/23/49
H. Wentworth. New Deal. Las Vegas Review-Journal, 12/22/50 p1-2
Flamingo Expansion Launched. Las Vegas Review-Journal, 8/20/51 p1
Another Resort Hotel. Review-Journal, 8/20/54
Ted Griss Lists Developing Plan for Strip Area. Review-Journal, 8/13/53
Strip, Shopping Center, Offices Near Completion. Review-Journal, 5/15/60
Harry Hayden Whiteley Architectural Records (MS-00134), UNLV Special Collections & Archives
First Strip Church Proposed. Review-Journal, 10/2/60
Holy Land Water Tops Shrine Rite. Review-Journal, 11/17/62
Holy Land Water Tops Shrine Rite. Review-Journal, 11/17/62
SkyLift Magi-Cab, Las Vegas, Nevada, Paul R Williams Project.