Architect Corner - Paul R. Williams, Las Vegas
There was a recent roadtrip to Las Vegas and I met my modest travel architecture goals to visit two later works of noted architect Paul R. Williams.
Williams practiced mostly in Southern California and designed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Lon Chaney and Barbara Stanwyvk. He also designed many public and private buildings. During his career, he designed over 2,000 buildings.
To learn more about the architect’s work in Las Vegas, including housing tracts, see this Docomomo US article.
Related Post: A Trio of Spiritual Places
La Conchita Motel (Neon Museum), 1961
The La Concha Motel was a 100-room, modest structure with an eye-catching intersecting hyperbolic paraboloid lobby of glass and concrete. It operated on Las Vegas boulevard across from the Circus Circus for over 40 years. The lobby is considered one of the best-preserved examples of Googie architecture.
In the early 2000s real estate boom, the motel was shuttered, and the land sold for an hotel/condominium development that never materialized. Though the wings of the motel were demolished, the iconic lobby was used as a sales office for the failed development.
In 2005, the Neon Museum was looking for a new home, and set their sights on preserving the lobby as a new visitor center. Funding was secured for the complex task of disassembling the building and transporting it three miles north to its present location at Las Vegas Boulevard and McWilliams Street.
Guardian Angel Cathedral, 1963
We walked from one end of the Strip to reach the Guardian Angel Cathedral. As many can attest, buildings along the Strip often appear closer than they are and it took us longer to reach than anticipated. Still, it was well worth the trek.
The A-frame church features a large, colorful mosaic over the entrance by Los Angeles artist Edith Piczek. Stained glass windows by Isabel Piczek are installed in the twelve triangular recesses which bisect the A-frame. Had the church been open when we visited, that stained glass would have been a treat to see.