E. Stewart Williams
Encyclopedia
Emerson Stewart Williams, FAIA (1909–September 10, 2005) was a prolific Palm Springs
, California
-based architect
whose distinctive modernist
buildings, in the Mid-century modern
style, significantly shaped the Coachella Valley
's architectural landscape and legacy.
best known for designing the offices of National Cash Register-NCR
. In 1934 Julia Carnell, whose husband was the comptroller of NCR, decided that a commercial development in Palm Springs, where she wintered, would be a good investment and brought Harry Williams to Palm Springs to design the historic La Plaza Shopping Center. Harry Williams stayed on in the city afterward, opening his own architectural practice, which was later joined by E. Stewart's younger brother, Roger, also an architect.
E. Stewart Williams completed his undergraduate studies at Cornell University
in 1932 and was elected to the Sphinx Head Society. Williams then taught at Columbia University
from 1934 to 1938. In 1938 Williams traveled through northern Europe and he met and married a Swedish
woman on the trip. Upon returning he worked in Raymond Loewy
's office. In Loewy's office Williams' responsibilities included projects for the 1939 New York World's Fair
, and the Lord and Taylor department store in Manhasset
, Long Island
in 1941, one of the first large suburban branches of a department store
to be built.
In 1941 Williams began working in his father's Dayton, Ohio office on defense-related projects. By 1943 E. Stewart Williams was involved in the building of ships at the Bechtel Marin County facility in Sausalito, California
, followed by a stint at Mare Island
in the San Francisco Bay
with the Navy.
Williams died in 2005 and is buried in the Welwood Murray Cemetery in Palm Springs.
. Williams said that on May 1, 1947 Sinatra wandered into their office eating an ice cream cone and stating that he wanted a house built by Christmas, meaning Williams had roughly only three months to design it and another three months to build it. Sinatra's other requirement was that it be a Georgian
-style mansion, a style neither aesthetically nor functionally suited to the desert.
Williams ended up presenting Sinatra two designs, one in the style he requested, and the other a low-lying, modern design, well integrated into the surrounding landscape and functionally appropriate to the climate. Luckily for all Sinatra chose the latter.
Though a relatively conservative design in comparison to the works of other notable modernist architects then designing and building in the area, particularly Richard Neutra
and Albert Frey, the house would become an architectural trend-setter (being the first "shed roof" house in the desert) and serve as model of "hipness" in the desert community, thought this was perhaps as much due to its occupant as to its design. Roger Williams in a much later interview spoke about Sinatra's final choice of a modern design: "I'm so glad. We'd ['Williams, Williams, & Williams'] have been ruined if we'd been forced to build Georgian in the desert."
Among those significant commissions was one for a house for the Seattle hotel owners William and Marjorie Edris. Having purchased a large lot in Palm Springs, the Edris' commissioned Williams as both the architect and the contractor for the job. Williams' design was more sophisticated and integrated into its Colorado Desert
habitat
surroundings than the earlier Sinatra house. The Edris House, as it is now known, remains largely unchanged, containing many of the original Williams' designed fixtures and details, and is protected from alteration since 2004 by being designated a 'Historic Building' by the Palm Springs City Council.
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs is a desert city in Riverside County, California, within the Coachella Valley. It is located approximately 37 miles east of San Bernardino, 111 miles east of Los Angeles and 136 miles northeast of San Diego...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
-based architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
whose distinctive modernist
Modern architecture
Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...
buildings, in the Mid-century modern
Mid-century modern
Mid-Century modern is an architectural, interior and product design form that generally describes mid-20th century developments in modern design, architecture, and urban development from roughly 1933 to 1965...
style, significantly shaped the Coachella Valley
Coachella Valley
Coachella Valley is a large valley landform in Southern California. The valley extends for approximately 45 miles in Riverside County southeast from the San Bernardino Mountains to the saltwater Salton Sea, the largest lake in California...
's architectural landscape and legacy.
History
E. Stewart Williams's father, Harry Williams, was a well-respected architect originally based in Dayton, OhioDayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
best known for designing the offices of National Cash Register-NCR
NCR Corporation
NCR Corporation is an American technology company specializing in kiosk products for the retail, financial, travel, healthcare, food service, entertainment, gaming and public sector industries. Its main products are self-service kiosks, point-of-sale terminals, automated teller machines, check...
. In 1934 Julia Carnell, whose husband was the comptroller of NCR, decided that a commercial development in Palm Springs, where she wintered, would be a good investment and brought Harry Williams to Palm Springs to design the historic La Plaza Shopping Center. Harry Williams stayed on in the city afterward, opening his own architectural practice, which was later joined by E. Stewart's younger brother, Roger, also an architect.
E. Stewart Williams completed his undergraduate studies at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
in 1932 and was elected to the Sphinx Head Society. Williams then taught at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
from 1934 to 1938. In 1938 Williams traveled through northern Europe and he met and married a Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
woman on the trip. Upon returning he worked in Raymond Loewy
Raymond Loewy
Raymond Loewy was an industrial designer, and the first to be featured on the cover of Time Magazine, on October 31, 1949. Born in France, he spent most of his professional career in the United States...
's office. In Loewy's office Williams' responsibilities included projects for the 1939 New York World's Fair
1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...
, and the Lord and Taylor department store in Manhasset
Manhasset, New York
Manhasset is a hamlet and neighborhood in Nassau County, New York, on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2010 Census, the population was 8,080....
, Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
in 1941, one of the first large suburban branches of a department store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
to be built.
In 1941 Williams began working in his father's Dayton, Ohio office on defense-related projects. By 1943 E. Stewart Williams was involved in the building of ships at the Bechtel Marin County facility in Sausalito, California
Sausalito, California
Sausalito is a San Francisco Bay Area city, in Marin County, California, United States. Sausalito is south-southeast of San Rafael, at an elevation of 13 feet . The population was 7,061 as of the 2010 census. The community is situated near the northern end of the Golden Gate Bridge, and prior to...
, followed by a stint at Mare Island
Mare Island
Mare Island is a peninsula in the United States alongside the city of Vallejo, California, about northeast of San Francisco. The Napa River forms its eastern side as it enters the Carquinez Strait juncture with the east side of San Pablo Bay. Mare Island is considered a peninsula because no full...
in the San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
with the Navy.
Williams died in 2005 and is buried in the Welwood Murray Cemetery in Palm Springs.
Palm Springs era
In 1946 Williams joined his father and brother in their Palm Springs practice, forming the 'Williams, Williams, & Williams' firm.Sinatra residence
The 'Williams, Williams, & Williams' firm's first residential commission was a house for Frank SinatraFrank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
. Williams said that on May 1, 1947 Sinatra wandered into their office eating an ice cream cone and stating that he wanted a house built by Christmas, meaning Williams had roughly only three months to design it and another three months to build it. Sinatra's other requirement was that it be a Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
-style mansion, a style neither aesthetically nor functionally suited to the desert.
Williams ended up presenting Sinatra two designs, one in the style he requested, and the other a low-lying, modern design, well integrated into the surrounding landscape and functionally appropriate to the climate. Luckily for all Sinatra chose the latter.
Though a relatively conservative design in comparison to the works of other notable modernist architects then designing and building in the area, particularly Richard Neutra
Richard Neutra
Richard Joseph Neutra is considered one of modernism's most important architects.- Biography :Neutra was born in Leopoldstadt, the 2nd district of Vienna, Austria Hungary, on April 8, 1892. He was born into both-Jewish wealthy family...
and Albert Frey, the house would become an architectural trend-setter (being the first "shed roof" house in the desert) and serve as model of "hipness" in the desert community, thought this was perhaps as much due to its occupant as to its design. Roger Williams in a much later interview spoke about Sinatra's final choice of a modern design: "I'm so glad. We'd ['Williams, Williams, & Williams'] have been ruined if we'd been forced to build Georgian in the desert."
Other projects
What followed were an unbroken string of commissions, large and small, institutional and private, commercial and residential that made the practice of Williams, Williams, & Williams, and in particular E. Stewart Williams, one those most fecund practices and architects in the region. Williams' father died in 1957, and John Porter Clark joined the practice in the 1960s.Among those significant commissions was one for a house for the Seattle hotel owners William and Marjorie Edris. Having purchased a large lot in Palm Springs, the Edris' commissioned Williams as both the architect and the contractor for the job. Williams' design was more sophisticated and integrated into its Colorado Desert
Colorado Desert
California's Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert, which extends across southwest North America. The Colorado Desert region encompasses approximately , reaching from the Mexican border in the south to the higher-elevation Mojave Desert in the north and from the Colorado River in...
habitat
Habitat
* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
surroundings than the earlier Sinatra house. The Edris House, as it is now known, remains largely unchanged, containing many of the original Williams' designed fixtures and details, and is protected from alteration since 2004 by being designated a 'Historic Building' by the Palm Springs City Council.
Significant Buildings
- 1946 Potter Building - Palm Springs, California
- 1947 Sinatra House, "Twin Palms" - Palm Springs, California
- 1949 The Colony: a Studio Apartment group - Palm Springs, California
- 1952 Oasis Building - Palm Springs, California
- 1954 Edris House - Palm Springs, California
- 1955 Coachella Savings and Loan - Palm Springs, California
- 1955 Koerner House - Palm Springs, California
- 1956 Williams House - Palm Springs, California
- 1958 Sutter House - Palm Springs, California (Photography by Julius Schulman, 1960; original interiors by Arthur Elrod)
- 1960 Santa Fe Savings and Loan - Palm Springs, California
- 1961 Mountaintop Station, Palm Springs Aerial TramwayPalm Springs Aerial TramwayThe Palm Springs Aerial Tramway in Palm Springs, California is the largest rotating aerial tramway in the world. It was opened in September 1963 as a way of getting from the floor of the Coachella Valley to near the top of San Jacinto Peak and was constructed in rugged Chino Canyon...
, Mount San JacintoMount San JacintoMount San Jacinto may refer to* A dormant volcano located on Kruzof Island in Alaska, U.S., currently named Mount Edgecumbe* San Jacinto Peak, the highest peak in Riverside County, California...
, above Palm Springs, California - 1961 Coachella Savings and Loan (II) - Palm Springs, California
- 1972 Crafton Hills College - Yucaipa, CaliforniaYucaipa, CaliforniaYucaipa is a city located east of San Bernardino, in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The population was 51,367 at the 2010 census, up from 41,207 at the 2000 census...
- 1976 Palm Springs Desert Museum - Palm Springs, California
Books and sources
- Palm Springs Modern by Adele Cygelman. 1999. Rizzoli International Press. 191 pages
- Once Upon a Time in the West by Andrea Truppin. Modernism magazine. Spring 2005 issue
- Palm Springs Weekend by Alan Hess and Andrew Danish. 2001. Chronicle Books. 180 pages
External links
- E. Stewart Williams bio and photos - The Palm Springs Modern Committee website