Atlantic Islander
09-14-2013, 03:53 AM
America's Modernist Maverick - William Pereira
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William Leonard Pereira (April 25, 1909 – November 13, 1985) was an American architect from Chicago, Illinois, of Portuguese ancestry who was noted for his futuristic designs of landmark buildings such as the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco. Remarkably prolific, he worked out of Los Angeles, and was known for his love of science fiction and expensive cars, but mostly for his unmistakable style of architecture, which helped define the look of mid-20th century America.
Personal life
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Pereira graduated from the School of Architecture, University of Illinois and began his career in his home city. He had some of his earliest architectural experience helping to draft the master plan for the 1933 "A Century of Progress" Chicago World's Fair. With his brother, Hal Pereira, he designed the Esquire Theater at 58 East Oak Street, considered one of Chicago's best examples of Art Deco style.
He had two wives, former model and actress Margaret McConnell (married June 24, 1934) and Bronya Galef; the latter marriage ending with his death. He has two children, William Pereira, Jr., and a daughter, Monica Pereira, a Spanish teacher.
William Pereira died of cancer at age 76 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. At his request, no funeral services were planned.
Career
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Transamerica Pyramid, San Francisco, 1972
In the 1930s, he and Hal moved to Los Angeles. After working as a solo architect, Pereira was hired by the Motion Picture Relief Fund and designed the first buildings for the Motion Picture Country House in Woodland Hills, California, which was dedicated September 27, 1942.
Pereira also had a brief stint as a Hollywood art director. He shared an Academy Award for Best Special Effects for the action/adventure film Reap the Wild Wind (1942). He was the art director for "This Gun for Hire", Alan Ladd's first film. He was production designer of the drama Jane Eyre (1944), and of the war drama Since You Went Away (1944) . Pereira was also the producer of the noir crime/drama Johnny Angel (1945), and of the Joan Fontaine drama From This Day Forward (1946).
Though his buildings were often quite stark and sterile in their appearance (owing largely to the science fiction of the era), they were noted for their functional style with a certain flair that made them unmistakable. He took pride in the concept of designing for the future. A great deal of Pereira's "futurist" style is owed to his longtime design collaborator James Langenheim, who had created the initial design for the Theme Building at LAX. The initials "J.L." have appeared as the designer's signature on a number of blueprints for Pereira projects including the similarly futuristic library at UC Irvine, but it is unclear if the initials are Langenheim's.
In 1949, Pereira became a professor of architecture at the University of Southern California. He then formed a partnership with fellow architect and classmate, Charles Luckman, in the early 1950s. The firm, Pereira & Luckman, grew into one of the nation's busiest. The duo designed some of Los Angeles's most well-known buildings, including the famed "Theme Building" at Los Angeles International Airport (in collaboration with Paul Williams and Welton Becket).
He parted with Luckman in 1959. Afterward, he formed the third and final company of his career, "William L. Pereira & Associates." In the 1960s and 1970s, he and his team completed over 250 projects, including drawing up the master plans for the Los Angeles International Airport expansion and developing the master plan for the 93,000 acre (376 km²) city of Irvine, California, which put his photograph on the cover of Time Magazine in September 1963. He later worked with Ian McHarg on the plan for the new town of The Woodlands, Texas.
Pereira's buildings were easily identified by their unmistakable style, often taking unusual forms such as pyramids and ziggurats. They usually projected a grand presence, heavyset in appearance and often sitting atop "pedestals" that were themselves an integral part of the building. Many of his buildings were complemented by water features and some were almost entirely surrounded by water. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, for instance, was a complex of three Googie-esque buildings rising up out of a lake and interconnected by a series of causeways and bridges.
Pereira designed the campus plans of the University of Southern California, the University of California, Irvine, and Pepperdine University.
His material of choice in creating his unique geometric forms was pre-cast concrete. Working in this medium, he could create his impressive facades by simply attaching them as panels on to the steel frame of the building.
Legacy
By the time of his death, Pereira had over 400 projects to his name. Among the structures he designed throughout Southern California were CBS Television City, the Los Angeles County Art Museum, and the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim. He is also responsible for creating the monumental Spanish-inspired facades that defined Robinson's department stores for nearly 20 years, and he was the architect of Pepperdine University at Malibu, named by the "Princeton Review" as the most beautiful college campus in America. Out of his immense body of work, three have really stood out in the public mind: the master-planned cities of Irvine and Newport Beach, and the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco.
His most praised and criticized work was probably the Transamerica building, which was completed in 1972. It was first panned as an intrusion on the city's skyline, but has been accepted as having more character than the buildings around it and as being an oddly creative city symbol.
Perhaps his greatest lasting legacy besides his buildings are the numerous respected architects of today who came out of both Pereira's firm and the classes he taught at USC, including Gin Wong, William Blurock, and Frank Gehry. Pereira's firm was taken over upon his death by his two primary cohorts, Scott Johnson and Bill Fain.
List of William Pereira buildings
This is a list of buildings designed in whole or in part by architect William Pereira. They are listed by year and grouped into the three firms that Pereira belonged to. The first firm listed was based in Chicago, and the rest were in Los Angeles.
Holabird & Root / William L. Pereira
1931
Armour & Company Exhibit Building, Chicago
Armour & Company Exhibit Building, San Francisco
Armour & Company Exhibit Building, New York City
Elgin Watch Company Industrial Plant, Chicago
1938
Lake County Tuberculosis Sanatorium, Waukegan, Illinois
1943
Pan Pacific Theatre, Los Angeles
1950
Lake County General Hospital, Hobbs, New Mexico
Pereira & Luckman
1951
Farmers & Stockmen's Bank, Phoenix, Arizona
Gibraltar Savings & Loan Headquarters, Beverly Hills, California
Robinson's department store, Beverly Hills
Robinson's department store, Pasadena, California
1952
Avco Research Center, Wilmington, Massachusetts
Beverly Hills Hotel Addition, Beverly Hills
Doheny Office Building, Beverly Hills
Hilton Hotels headquarters, Beverly Hills
Lear Industrial plant, Santa Monica
Luke Air Force Base, Phoenix, Arizona
1953
CBS Television City, Los Angeles
Western Hydraulics plant, Van Nuys, California
1954
Electronics and Radio Propagation Research Laboratories, Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, California
KEYT Television Station, Santa Barbara, California
KTTV Television Station, Los Angeles
National Bureau of Standards building, Boulder, Colorado
Santa Rosa Hall - Dormitory, University of California, Santa Barbara
United States Navy training facility, San Diego, California
Wadsworth General Hospital, Veteran's Administration, Los Angeles
Western Hydraulics Plant 2, Van Nuys, California
William H. Block Department Store, Indianapolis
WSBT Television Station, South Bend, Indiana
1955
Dormitories, Music and Science Buildings, Occidental College, Los Angeles
Jet Production and Test Center, Palmdale, California
Service Bureau Office Building, Los Angeles
1956
Fallbrook Hospital, Fallbrook, California
General Telephone Company Administration Building, Whittier, California
Hunter Engineering plant, Riverside, California
Prudential Tower, Boston (early designs)
Southern California School of Theology, Claremont, California (now Claremont School of Theology)
United States Air Force and Naval Bases, Cádiz, Spain
Braniff International Airways, Operations and Maintenance Base, Dallas, Texas
1957
First National Bank, Denver, Colorado
Motion Picture Country House and Hospital, Woodland Hills, California
Nellis Air Force Base buildings, Nevada
1958
Beckman Corporation plant, Newport Beach, California
Berlin Hilton, Berlin, Germany
Bullock's Fashion Square, Santa Ana, California (now Westfield Mainplace)
Chrysler Sales & Service Training Center, Anaheim, California
Convair Astronautics, San Diego, California
Disneyland Hotel
Firestone Tire company headquarters, Los Angeles
Ford Aeronutronics, Newport Beach, California (demolished)
General Atomic, La Jolla, California
Grossmont Hospital, San Diego, California
IBM headquarters, Los Angeles
Los Angeles International Airport
Marineland of the Pacific, Palos Verdes, California
Physical Plant Building B, University of Southern California
Robinson's department store, Palm Springs, California
Signal Oil headquarters, Los Angeles
Valley Presbyterian Hospital, Van Nuys, California
William L. Pereira & Associates
1959
Automation Post Office, Washington, D.C.
Carthay Circle Theatre, Hollywood
Civic Center, Santa Fe Springs, California
Firestone Aeronautical Research Laboratory, Caltech campus
Fox Theatre, San Francisco
Hoffman Science Center, Santa Barbara, California
Hollywood Motion Picture and Television Museum
Lear Corporation, Goleta, California
Linda Island homes, Newport Beach, California
Los Angeles Zoo
Prudential Savings and Loan building, Salt Lake City
Rosenweig Commercial Center, Phoenix, Arizona
San Diego International Airport
Vogue Theatre, Hollywood
1960
Biltmore Hotel, Santa Barbara, California
Children's Theatre Arts Center, Los Angeles
Communications School and Recreation Complex, Loyola University, Los Angeles
Del E. Webb residence, Mission Bay, California
Ford Aeronutronics, Irvine, California (Demolished)
Fox Hills Home Savings and Loan, Fox Hills, California
General Atomics headquarters, Sorrento Valley, California
General Telephone Research Laboratories, Palo Alto, California
Otis College of Art & Design, Los Angeles
Union Oil headquarters, Los Angeles (now Los Angeles Center Studios)
1961
Library, Santa Fe Springs, California
Physical Sciences Building, University of Southern California
Prudential Savings and Loan #2, Salt Lake City
1962
Hunt Branch Library, Fullerton, California
Prudential Savings and Loan, Butte, Montana
1963
Columbia Records pressing plant, Santa Maria, California
Continental Savings and Loan, Montebello, California
Gene Donovan residence, Salt Lake City
Gibraltar Savings and Loan, San Marino, California
Metropolitan Water District building, Los Angeles, California (now Holy Hill Church)
Olin Hall of Engineering, University of Southern California
Otis Chandler residence, San Marino, California
Union Bank, Pasadena, California
Ventura Bank and Office Building, Ventura, California
West Covina Country Club and Apartments, West Covina, California
1964
ABC Paramount Theatres headquarters, Los Angeles
Ahmanson Center for Biological Research, University of Southern California
Art Building, Occidental College, Los Angeles
Arthur Coons Center, Occidental College, Los Angeles
Beacon Street Apartments, Santa Catalina Island, California
Clementine Avenue Townhouses, Santa Catalina Island, California
David Bright residence
Descanso Canyon Hotel, Santa Catalina Island, California
Douglas Aircraft Research Laboratory
Gibraltar Savings and Loan, Baldwin Hills, California
International Motion Pictures studio, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Laguna Playhouse, Laguna Beach, California
Union Bank, Fullerton, California
Prudential Federal Savings, Salt Lake City, Utah
1965
Avalon Townhouses, Santa Catalina Island, California
Bank of California, Orange, California
Civic Center, San Dimas, California
Communications Building, Los Angeles City College
Community Building, Santa Fe Springs, California
Cord Residence, Reno, Nevada
Dickson Art Center, University of California, Los Angeles
Ferris Rehearsal Hall, University of Southern California
Gildread Theatre, Mexico City
Golden West College, Huntington Beach, California
Harris Fine Arts Center, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah
Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel, at Disneyland, Anaheim, California
Hotel Ivoire, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
International Clubs headquarters, Los Angeles
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Pepsi plant, Santa Ana, California
Transamerica headquarters, Los Angeles now AT&T Center (Los Angeles)
University of California, Irvine campus (infrastructure and first nine buildings)
Unocal 76 gas station, Beverly Hills, California (designed by Gin Wong)
1966
John Stauffer Hall of Science, University of Southern California
North American Aviation, Santa Catalina Island, California
Robertson Plaza, Beverly Hills, California
Seaquarium, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Wilshire County Country Club, Los Angeles
1967
400 Tower, Newport Center, Newport Beach, California
611 Place, Los Angeles
City Hall, Miami, Florida
Civic Center, Newport Beach, California
Eddie Martin Terminal, John Wayne Airport, Santa Ana, California (demolished 1994)
Fine Arts Building, University of Vermont
Fort St. Vrain Nuclear Power Plant, Denver, Colorado
Fremont Junior College
Hall of Science, University of Southern California
Hoffman Electronics headquarters, Santa Barbara, California
Hollywood Communications Center, Hollywood
Horticulture Building and Greenhouse, University of California, Irvine
Litton Industries headquarters, Santa Catalina Island, California
Rio de Janeiro International Airport, Brazil
Robinson's, Fashion Island, Newport Beach, California
Robinson's, La Cumbre Plaza, Santa Barbara, California
Tunis Airport, Tunisia
United States Navy Defense Office Complex, Washington, D.C.
USC Marine Science Center, Santa Catalina Island, California
Vivian Hall, University of Southern California
William Pereira's own house, Los Angeles
World Airways Terminal, Los Angeles International Airport
1968
American Red Cross Chapel, Los Angeles
Anderson Hills Shopping Center, Williams, California
Bethany Heights Condominiums
Don Muang Airport, Thailand
Geneva Presbyterian Church, Laguna Hills, California
Kona Bishop Hotel, Kona, Hawaii
Law Building, University of Southern California
Lockheed Power Plant, Palmdale, California
Occidental Life Insurance Company headquarters, Los Angeles
Rye Canyon Science Laboratory, Palmdale, California
Santa Ana Cinema, Santa Ana, California
1969
500/550 Twin Towers, Newport Center, Newport Beach, California
Amfac Center, Ontario, Canada
Buena Park Library, Buena Park, California
Bunker Hill Towers, Los Angeles
Camp Pendleton Hospital, Camp Pendleton, California
Great Western Savings and Loan, Los Angeles
H.S. Pogue Department Store, Cincinnati, Ohio
JC Penney, San Diego
Robinson's Department Store, Fashion Valley Mall, San Diego, California
Mutual Benefit Life Building, Cincinnati, Ohio
Pan Am Terminal, Honolulu International Airport
San Nicolas Place, Newport Center, Newport Beach, California
Seaver Science Center, University of Southern California
1970
Civic Center and Auditorium, Inglewood, California
Fine Arts Complex, University of California, Irvine
Geisel Library, University of California, San Diego
Hollywood Park Hotel and Office Complex, Hollywood
J.C. Penney, Sacramento, California
J.C. Penney, Honolulu, Hawaii
J.C. Penney, San Bernardino, California
New England Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham
Scripps Clinic, San Diego
Studio Theatre, Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.
St. Vincent's Hospital, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Texas Industrial Laundries, Corpus Christi
1971
5900 Wilshire Tower, Los Angeles (designed by Gin Wong)
Bank of America, Whittier, California
Eastern Airlines Terminal, Atlanta International Airport
Harbor Justice Center, Irvine, California
Hawaii Loa College, Oahu, Hawaii
Library, University of Cincinnati
Newport Medical Towers, Newport Center, Newport Beach, California
Rockwell Autonetics, Laguna Niguel, California (now Chet Holifield Federal Building)
Social Security Administration Center, San Francisco
Two Houston Center, Houston, Texas
1972
Bob Hope residence, Burbank, California
The Broadway, Santa Anita, California
The Broadway, Fox Hills, California
Citibank, Albany, New York
Citibank, Rochester, New York
Citibank, Smith Grove, New York
Citibank, Syracuse, New York
Civic Center, Aurora, Illinois
Conference Center and Housing Complex, Lagos, Nigeria
Convention Center, Columbus, Ohio
Desert Hospital, Palm Springs, California
Eastmont Mall, Oakland, California
Grand Slam Health Club, Costa Mesa, California
Great Western Financial Corporation, 8484 Wilshire, Beverly Hills (now called the Flynt Building)
Gulf Mall, Panama City, Florida
Hillcrest Hospital, Petaluma, California
Honolulu Medical Complex, Honolulu, Hawaii
Hospital, University of Southern California
Leleiwe Beach Hotel, Hilo, Hawaii
Marriott Hotel, Bermuda
Mauna Loa Shores Apartments, Hawaii
Pacific Life building, Newport Center, Newport Beach, California
Reno International Airport, Reno, Nevada
San Francisco International Airport
Sears Shopping Center, La Puerte, California
Shuttle Terminal, La Guardia Airport, New York City
Tehran International Airport, Tehran, Iran
Transamerica Pyramid, San Francisco
United California Bank, San Mateo, California
Vacia Talega Hotel and Condominiums, Puerto Rico
Westin St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco
1973
Beverly Hills Medical Building, Beverly Hills
Charles Lee Powell Hall, University of Southern California
Bayou Building, University of Houston at Clear Lake City
Communications Building, Los Angeles City College
Continental Airlines First Class Lounge, Los Angeles International Airport
Eisenhower Center, Washington, D.C.
First Hawaiian Bank Building, Honolulu
Greyhound Bus Terminal, Reno, Nevada
Harrisburg International Airport, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Hartsfield Airport, Atlanta, Georgia
Hawaii Kai Studio, Honolulu
Makaha Towers and Country Club, Makaha, Hawaii
Naval Base, New Orleans, Louisiana
Pacific Financial Center, Los Angeles
Regent Beach Hotel, Pattaya, Thailand
Riverside Administration Building, Riverside, California
Security Pacific National Bank, Oakland, California
Wilshire Regent Hotel, Los Angeles
Wells Fargo Bank, Newport Center, Newport Beach, California
1974
450 Tower, Newport Center, Newport Beach, California
660 Tower, Newport Center, Newport Beach, California
California State Capitol Building Addition, Sacramento, California
Central Post Office, La Habra, California
City Hall Annex, Cypress, California
Continental Hotel, Guam
Convention Center, Palm Springs, California
Crocker Citizen's Bank, San Francisco
Hilton Hotel, Kuta, Bali
Hoag Hospital West Tower, Newport Beach, California
Imperial Medical Center, Tehran, Iran (now called Iran University of Medical Sciences)
Kauai Inn and Conference Center, Hawaii
Library, Cypress, California
Medical and Dental Clinic, San Diego Naval Training Center
Naval Hospital, Port Hueneme, California
Naval Hospital, San Diego, California
Pacific Mutual Building, San Francisco
Quail Springs Mall, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Staten Island Hospital, New York City
Virginia Ramo Hall of Music, University of Southern California
1975
Albert S. Raubenheimer Music Building, University of Southern California
Frank Hagel Social Security Building, Richmond, California
Marriott Hotel, Newport Center, Newport Beach, California
Satellite Building 2, Los Angeles International Airport
1976
Barstow Community College, Barstow, California
Bell Operations Training Facility, Tehran, Iran
Bing Theatre, University of Southern California
Biology Building, Caltech campus
Computer Science Center, University of Southern California
Harrah's, Reno, Nevada
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Los Angeles Trade Tech Library, Los Angeles
Professional Office Building, Glendale, California
Stanford Research Institute, Menlo Park, California
1977
Arizona State Prison, Florence, Arizona
Armed Services Headquarters, Jakarta, Indonesia
Boise Industrial Park, Boise, Idaho
Braille Institute, Los Angeles, California
Cerritos Cultural Center, Cerritos, California
Convention Center, San Francisco
County Government Center, San Bernardino, California
Douglas Aircraft Plaza, Irvine, California
Federal Correctional Facility, Camarillo, California
Gaylord Apartments, Las Vegas, Nevada
Horrock's, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Hyatt Hotel, Kuwait
Intevep Laboratories, Caracas, Venezuela
Lake Tahoe Community College, Lake Tahoe, California
Maricopa Jail, Maricopa, California
National Steinbeck Center, Salinas, California
Produce Market, Los Angeles
Prudential Office Building, Costa Mesa, California (now California Bank & Trust)
South Coast Town Center, Costa Mesa, California (heavily altered)
Toyota Headquarters, Torrance, California
Warner Bros. Office Building, Burbank, California
1978
American Airlines Corporate Headquarters, Los Angeles International Airport
Saddam International Airport, Baghdad, Iraq
Host International Headquarters, Los Angeles
Los Angeles Times, Northridge, California
Los Angeles Times, Costa Mesa, California
Raley's Landing, Sacramento, California
1979
Hydrocarbon Institute, University of Southern California
1980
Communicore, EPCOT Center, Lake Buena Vista, Florida
Pontiac Office Tower, Singapore
Two Transamerica Center, San Francisco
Yanbu Residential Community, Yanbu, Saudi Arabia
1981
Jonathan Club, Los Angeles
Universal City Sheraton Hotel, Burbank, California
1982
[Doha Sheraton Hotel], Doha, Qatar
Nob Hill Condominiums, San Francisco
Park La Brea, Los Angeles
Performing Arts Center, Whittier, California
1983
Lockheed headquarters, Calabasas, California
Park Wellington Condominiums, Los Angeles
T-2 Information Systems, Carlsbad, California
source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Pereira)
http://imageshack.us/a/img546/3292/xv3u.png
William Leonard Pereira (April 25, 1909 – November 13, 1985) was an American architect from Chicago, Illinois, of Portuguese ancestry who was noted for his futuristic designs of landmark buildings such as the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco. Remarkably prolific, he worked out of Los Angeles, and was known for his love of science fiction and expensive cars, but mostly for his unmistakable style of architecture, which helped define the look of mid-20th century America.
Personal life
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Pereira graduated from the School of Architecture, University of Illinois and began his career in his home city. He had some of his earliest architectural experience helping to draft the master plan for the 1933 "A Century of Progress" Chicago World's Fair. With his brother, Hal Pereira, he designed the Esquire Theater at 58 East Oak Street, considered one of Chicago's best examples of Art Deco style.
He had two wives, former model and actress Margaret McConnell (married June 24, 1934) and Bronya Galef; the latter marriage ending with his death. He has two children, William Pereira, Jr., and a daughter, Monica Pereira, a Spanish teacher.
William Pereira died of cancer at age 76 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. At his request, no funeral services were planned.
Career
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Transamerica Pyramid, San Francisco, 1972
In the 1930s, he and Hal moved to Los Angeles. After working as a solo architect, Pereira was hired by the Motion Picture Relief Fund and designed the first buildings for the Motion Picture Country House in Woodland Hills, California, which was dedicated September 27, 1942.
Pereira also had a brief stint as a Hollywood art director. He shared an Academy Award for Best Special Effects for the action/adventure film Reap the Wild Wind (1942). He was the art director for "This Gun for Hire", Alan Ladd's first film. He was production designer of the drama Jane Eyre (1944), and of the war drama Since You Went Away (1944) . Pereira was also the producer of the noir crime/drama Johnny Angel (1945), and of the Joan Fontaine drama From This Day Forward (1946).
Though his buildings were often quite stark and sterile in their appearance (owing largely to the science fiction of the era), they were noted for their functional style with a certain flair that made them unmistakable. He took pride in the concept of designing for the future. A great deal of Pereira's "futurist" style is owed to his longtime design collaborator James Langenheim, who had created the initial design for the Theme Building at LAX. The initials "J.L." have appeared as the designer's signature on a number of blueprints for Pereira projects including the similarly futuristic library at UC Irvine, but it is unclear if the initials are Langenheim's.
In 1949, Pereira became a professor of architecture at the University of Southern California. He then formed a partnership with fellow architect and classmate, Charles Luckman, in the early 1950s. The firm, Pereira & Luckman, grew into one of the nation's busiest. The duo designed some of Los Angeles's most well-known buildings, including the famed "Theme Building" at Los Angeles International Airport (in collaboration with Paul Williams and Welton Becket).
He parted with Luckman in 1959. Afterward, he formed the third and final company of his career, "William L. Pereira & Associates." In the 1960s and 1970s, he and his team completed over 250 projects, including drawing up the master plans for the Los Angeles International Airport expansion and developing the master plan for the 93,000 acre (376 km²) city of Irvine, California, which put his photograph on the cover of Time Magazine in September 1963. He later worked with Ian McHarg on the plan for the new town of The Woodlands, Texas.
Pereira's buildings were easily identified by their unmistakable style, often taking unusual forms such as pyramids and ziggurats. They usually projected a grand presence, heavyset in appearance and often sitting atop "pedestals" that were themselves an integral part of the building. Many of his buildings were complemented by water features and some were almost entirely surrounded by water. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, for instance, was a complex of three Googie-esque buildings rising up out of a lake and interconnected by a series of causeways and bridges.
Pereira designed the campus plans of the University of Southern California, the University of California, Irvine, and Pepperdine University.
His material of choice in creating his unique geometric forms was pre-cast concrete. Working in this medium, he could create his impressive facades by simply attaching them as panels on to the steel frame of the building.
Legacy
By the time of his death, Pereira had over 400 projects to his name. Among the structures he designed throughout Southern California were CBS Television City, the Los Angeles County Art Museum, and the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim. He is also responsible for creating the monumental Spanish-inspired facades that defined Robinson's department stores for nearly 20 years, and he was the architect of Pepperdine University at Malibu, named by the "Princeton Review" as the most beautiful college campus in America. Out of his immense body of work, three have really stood out in the public mind: the master-planned cities of Irvine and Newport Beach, and the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco.
His most praised and criticized work was probably the Transamerica building, which was completed in 1972. It was first panned as an intrusion on the city's skyline, but has been accepted as having more character than the buildings around it and as being an oddly creative city symbol.
Perhaps his greatest lasting legacy besides his buildings are the numerous respected architects of today who came out of both Pereira's firm and the classes he taught at USC, including Gin Wong, William Blurock, and Frank Gehry. Pereira's firm was taken over upon his death by his two primary cohorts, Scott Johnson and Bill Fain.
List of William Pereira buildings
This is a list of buildings designed in whole or in part by architect William Pereira. They are listed by year and grouped into the three firms that Pereira belonged to. The first firm listed was based in Chicago, and the rest were in Los Angeles.
Holabird & Root / William L. Pereira
1931
Armour & Company Exhibit Building, Chicago
Armour & Company Exhibit Building, San Francisco
Armour & Company Exhibit Building, New York City
Elgin Watch Company Industrial Plant, Chicago
1938
Lake County Tuberculosis Sanatorium, Waukegan, Illinois
1943
Pan Pacific Theatre, Los Angeles
1950
Lake County General Hospital, Hobbs, New Mexico
Pereira & Luckman
1951
Farmers & Stockmen's Bank, Phoenix, Arizona
Gibraltar Savings & Loan Headquarters, Beverly Hills, California
Robinson's department store, Beverly Hills
Robinson's department store, Pasadena, California
1952
Avco Research Center, Wilmington, Massachusetts
Beverly Hills Hotel Addition, Beverly Hills
Doheny Office Building, Beverly Hills
Hilton Hotels headquarters, Beverly Hills
Lear Industrial plant, Santa Monica
Luke Air Force Base, Phoenix, Arizona
1953
CBS Television City, Los Angeles
Western Hydraulics plant, Van Nuys, California
1954
Electronics and Radio Propagation Research Laboratories, Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, California
KEYT Television Station, Santa Barbara, California
KTTV Television Station, Los Angeles
National Bureau of Standards building, Boulder, Colorado
Santa Rosa Hall - Dormitory, University of California, Santa Barbara
United States Navy training facility, San Diego, California
Wadsworth General Hospital, Veteran's Administration, Los Angeles
Western Hydraulics Plant 2, Van Nuys, California
William H. Block Department Store, Indianapolis
WSBT Television Station, South Bend, Indiana
1955
Dormitories, Music and Science Buildings, Occidental College, Los Angeles
Jet Production and Test Center, Palmdale, California
Service Bureau Office Building, Los Angeles
1956
Fallbrook Hospital, Fallbrook, California
General Telephone Company Administration Building, Whittier, California
Hunter Engineering plant, Riverside, California
Prudential Tower, Boston (early designs)
Southern California School of Theology, Claremont, California (now Claremont School of Theology)
United States Air Force and Naval Bases, Cádiz, Spain
Braniff International Airways, Operations and Maintenance Base, Dallas, Texas
1957
First National Bank, Denver, Colorado
Motion Picture Country House and Hospital, Woodland Hills, California
Nellis Air Force Base buildings, Nevada
1958
Beckman Corporation plant, Newport Beach, California
Berlin Hilton, Berlin, Germany
Bullock's Fashion Square, Santa Ana, California (now Westfield Mainplace)
Chrysler Sales & Service Training Center, Anaheim, California
Convair Astronautics, San Diego, California
Disneyland Hotel
Firestone Tire company headquarters, Los Angeles
Ford Aeronutronics, Newport Beach, California (demolished)
General Atomic, La Jolla, California
Grossmont Hospital, San Diego, California
IBM headquarters, Los Angeles
Los Angeles International Airport
Marineland of the Pacific, Palos Verdes, California
Physical Plant Building B, University of Southern California
Robinson's department store, Palm Springs, California
Signal Oil headquarters, Los Angeles
Valley Presbyterian Hospital, Van Nuys, California
William L. Pereira & Associates
1959
Automation Post Office, Washington, D.C.
Carthay Circle Theatre, Hollywood
Civic Center, Santa Fe Springs, California
Firestone Aeronautical Research Laboratory, Caltech campus
Fox Theatre, San Francisco
Hoffman Science Center, Santa Barbara, California
Hollywood Motion Picture and Television Museum
Lear Corporation, Goleta, California
Linda Island homes, Newport Beach, California
Los Angeles Zoo
Prudential Savings and Loan building, Salt Lake City
Rosenweig Commercial Center, Phoenix, Arizona
San Diego International Airport
Vogue Theatre, Hollywood
1960
Biltmore Hotel, Santa Barbara, California
Children's Theatre Arts Center, Los Angeles
Communications School and Recreation Complex, Loyola University, Los Angeles
Del E. Webb residence, Mission Bay, California
Ford Aeronutronics, Irvine, California (Demolished)
Fox Hills Home Savings and Loan, Fox Hills, California
General Atomics headquarters, Sorrento Valley, California
General Telephone Research Laboratories, Palo Alto, California
Otis College of Art & Design, Los Angeles
Union Oil headquarters, Los Angeles (now Los Angeles Center Studios)
1961
Library, Santa Fe Springs, California
Physical Sciences Building, University of Southern California
Prudential Savings and Loan #2, Salt Lake City
1962
Hunt Branch Library, Fullerton, California
Prudential Savings and Loan, Butte, Montana
1963
Columbia Records pressing plant, Santa Maria, California
Continental Savings and Loan, Montebello, California
Gene Donovan residence, Salt Lake City
Gibraltar Savings and Loan, San Marino, California
Metropolitan Water District building, Los Angeles, California (now Holy Hill Church)
Olin Hall of Engineering, University of Southern California
Otis Chandler residence, San Marino, California
Union Bank, Pasadena, California
Ventura Bank and Office Building, Ventura, California
West Covina Country Club and Apartments, West Covina, California
1964
ABC Paramount Theatres headquarters, Los Angeles
Ahmanson Center for Biological Research, University of Southern California
Art Building, Occidental College, Los Angeles
Arthur Coons Center, Occidental College, Los Angeles
Beacon Street Apartments, Santa Catalina Island, California
Clementine Avenue Townhouses, Santa Catalina Island, California
David Bright residence
Descanso Canyon Hotel, Santa Catalina Island, California
Douglas Aircraft Research Laboratory
Gibraltar Savings and Loan, Baldwin Hills, California
International Motion Pictures studio, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Laguna Playhouse, Laguna Beach, California
Union Bank, Fullerton, California
Prudential Federal Savings, Salt Lake City, Utah
1965
Avalon Townhouses, Santa Catalina Island, California
Bank of California, Orange, California
Civic Center, San Dimas, California
Communications Building, Los Angeles City College
Community Building, Santa Fe Springs, California
Cord Residence, Reno, Nevada
Dickson Art Center, University of California, Los Angeles
Ferris Rehearsal Hall, University of Southern California
Gildread Theatre, Mexico City
Golden West College, Huntington Beach, California
Harris Fine Arts Center, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah
Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel, at Disneyland, Anaheim, California
Hotel Ivoire, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
International Clubs headquarters, Los Angeles
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Pepsi plant, Santa Ana, California
Transamerica headquarters, Los Angeles now AT&T Center (Los Angeles)
University of California, Irvine campus (infrastructure and first nine buildings)
Unocal 76 gas station, Beverly Hills, California (designed by Gin Wong)
1966
John Stauffer Hall of Science, University of Southern California
North American Aviation, Santa Catalina Island, California
Robertson Plaza, Beverly Hills, California
Seaquarium, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Wilshire County Country Club, Los Angeles
1967
400 Tower, Newport Center, Newport Beach, California
611 Place, Los Angeles
City Hall, Miami, Florida
Civic Center, Newport Beach, California
Eddie Martin Terminal, John Wayne Airport, Santa Ana, California (demolished 1994)
Fine Arts Building, University of Vermont
Fort St. Vrain Nuclear Power Plant, Denver, Colorado
Fremont Junior College
Hall of Science, University of Southern California
Hoffman Electronics headquarters, Santa Barbara, California
Hollywood Communications Center, Hollywood
Horticulture Building and Greenhouse, University of California, Irvine
Litton Industries headquarters, Santa Catalina Island, California
Rio de Janeiro International Airport, Brazil
Robinson's, Fashion Island, Newport Beach, California
Robinson's, La Cumbre Plaza, Santa Barbara, California
Tunis Airport, Tunisia
United States Navy Defense Office Complex, Washington, D.C.
USC Marine Science Center, Santa Catalina Island, California
Vivian Hall, University of Southern California
William Pereira's own house, Los Angeles
World Airways Terminal, Los Angeles International Airport
1968
American Red Cross Chapel, Los Angeles
Anderson Hills Shopping Center, Williams, California
Bethany Heights Condominiums
Don Muang Airport, Thailand
Geneva Presbyterian Church, Laguna Hills, California
Kona Bishop Hotel, Kona, Hawaii
Law Building, University of Southern California
Lockheed Power Plant, Palmdale, California
Occidental Life Insurance Company headquarters, Los Angeles
Rye Canyon Science Laboratory, Palmdale, California
Santa Ana Cinema, Santa Ana, California
1969
500/550 Twin Towers, Newport Center, Newport Beach, California
Amfac Center, Ontario, Canada
Buena Park Library, Buena Park, California
Bunker Hill Towers, Los Angeles
Camp Pendleton Hospital, Camp Pendleton, California
Great Western Savings and Loan, Los Angeles
H.S. Pogue Department Store, Cincinnati, Ohio
JC Penney, San Diego
Robinson's Department Store, Fashion Valley Mall, San Diego, California
Mutual Benefit Life Building, Cincinnati, Ohio
Pan Am Terminal, Honolulu International Airport
San Nicolas Place, Newport Center, Newport Beach, California
Seaver Science Center, University of Southern California
1970
Civic Center and Auditorium, Inglewood, California
Fine Arts Complex, University of California, Irvine
Geisel Library, University of California, San Diego
Hollywood Park Hotel and Office Complex, Hollywood
J.C. Penney, Sacramento, California
J.C. Penney, Honolulu, Hawaii
J.C. Penney, San Bernardino, California
New England Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham
Scripps Clinic, San Diego
Studio Theatre, Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.
St. Vincent's Hospital, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Texas Industrial Laundries, Corpus Christi
1971
5900 Wilshire Tower, Los Angeles (designed by Gin Wong)
Bank of America, Whittier, California
Eastern Airlines Terminal, Atlanta International Airport
Harbor Justice Center, Irvine, California
Hawaii Loa College, Oahu, Hawaii
Library, University of Cincinnati
Newport Medical Towers, Newport Center, Newport Beach, California
Rockwell Autonetics, Laguna Niguel, California (now Chet Holifield Federal Building)
Social Security Administration Center, San Francisco
Two Houston Center, Houston, Texas
1972
Bob Hope residence, Burbank, California
The Broadway, Santa Anita, California
The Broadway, Fox Hills, California
Citibank, Albany, New York
Citibank, Rochester, New York
Citibank, Smith Grove, New York
Citibank, Syracuse, New York
Civic Center, Aurora, Illinois
Conference Center and Housing Complex, Lagos, Nigeria
Convention Center, Columbus, Ohio
Desert Hospital, Palm Springs, California
Eastmont Mall, Oakland, California
Grand Slam Health Club, Costa Mesa, California
Great Western Financial Corporation, 8484 Wilshire, Beverly Hills (now called the Flynt Building)
Gulf Mall, Panama City, Florida
Hillcrest Hospital, Petaluma, California
Honolulu Medical Complex, Honolulu, Hawaii
Hospital, University of Southern California
Leleiwe Beach Hotel, Hilo, Hawaii
Marriott Hotel, Bermuda
Mauna Loa Shores Apartments, Hawaii
Pacific Life building, Newport Center, Newport Beach, California
Reno International Airport, Reno, Nevada
San Francisco International Airport
Sears Shopping Center, La Puerte, California
Shuttle Terminal, La Guardia Airport, New York City
Tehran International Airport, Tehran, Iran
Transamerica Pyramid, San Francisco
United California Bank, San Mateo, California
Vacia Talega Hotel and Condominiums, Puerto Rico
Westin St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco
1973
Beverly Hills Medical Building, Beverly Hills
Charles Lee Powell Hall, University of Southern California
Bayou Building, University of Houston at Clear Lake City
Communications Building, Los Angeles City College
Continental Airlines First Class Lounge, Los Angeles International Airport
Eisenhower Center, Washington, D.C.
First Hawaiian Bank Building, Honolulu
Greyhound Bus Terminal, Reno, Nevada
Harrisburg International Airport, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Hartsfield Airport, Atlanta, Georgia
Hawaii Kai Studio, Honolulu
Makaha Towers and Country Club, Makaha, Hawaii
Naval Base, New Orleans, Louisiana
Pacific Financial Center, Los Angeles
Regent Beach Hotel, Pattaya, Thailand
Riverside Administration Building, Riverside, California
Security Pacific National Bank, Oakland, California
Wilshire Regent Hotel, Los Angeles
Wells Fargo Bank, Newport Center, Newport Beach, California
1974
450 Tower, Newport Center, Newport Beach, California
660 Tower, Newport Center, Newport Beach, California
California State Capitol Building Addition, Sacramento, California
Central Post Office, La Habra, California
City Hall Annex, Cypress, California
Continental Hotel, Guam
Convention Center, Palm Springs, California
Crocker Citizen's Bank, San Francisco
Hilton Hotel, Kuta, Bali
Hoag Hospital West Tower, Newport Beach, California
Imperial Medical Center, Tehran, Iran (now called Iran University of Medical Sciences)
Kauai Inn and Conference Center, Hawaii
Library, Cypress, California
Medical and Dental Clinic, San Diego Naval Training Center
Naval Hospital, Port Hueneme, California
Naval Hospital, San Diego, California
Pacific Mutual Building, San Francisco
Quail Springs Mall, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Staten Island Hospital, New York City
Virginia Ramo Hall of Music, University of Southern California
1975
Albert S. Raubenheimer Music Building, University of Southern California
Frank Hagel Social Security Building, Richmond, California
Marriott Hotel, Newport Center, Newport Beach, California
Satellite Building 2, Los Angeles International Airport
1976
Barstow Community College, Barstow, California
Bell Operations Training Facility, Tehran, Iran
Bing Theatre, University of Southern California
Biology Building, Caltech campus
Computer Science Center, University of Southern California
Harrah's, Reno, Nevada
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Los Angeles Trade Tech Library, Los Angeles
Professional Office Building, Glendale, California
Stanford Research Institute, Menlo Park, California
1977
Arizona State Prison, Florence, Arizona
Armed Services Headquarters, Jakarta, Indonesia
Boise Industrial Park, Boise, Idaho
Braille Institute, Los Angeles, California
Cerritos Cultural Center, Cerritos, California
Convention Center, San Francisco
County Government Center, San Bernardino, California
Douglas Aircraft Plaza, Irvine, California
Federal Correctional Facility, Camarillo, California
Gaylord Apartments, Las Vegas, Nevada
Horrock's, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Hyatt Hotel, Kuwait
Intevep Laboratories, Caracas, Venezuela
Lake Tahoe Community College, Lake Tahoe, California
Maricopa Jail, Maricopa, California
National Steinbeck Center, Salinas, California
Produce Market, Los Angeles
Prudential Office Building, Costa Mesa, California (now California Bank & Trust)
South Coast Town Center, Costa Mesa, California (heavily altered)
Toyota Headquarters, Torrance, California
Warner Bros. Office Building, Burbank, California
1978
American Airlines Corporate Headquarters, Los Angeles International Airport
Saddam International Airport, Baghdad, Iraq
Host International Headquarters, Los Angeles
Los Angeles Times, Northridge, California
Los Angeles Times, Costa Mesa, California
Raley's Landing, Sacramento, California
1979
Hydrocarbon Institute, University of Southern California
1980
Communicore, EPCOT Center, Lake Buena Vista, Florida
Pontiac Office Tower, Singapore
Two Transamerica Center, San Francisco
Yanbu Residential Community, Yanbu, Saudi Arabia
1981
Jonathan Club, Los Angeles
Universal City Sheraton Hotel, Burbank, California
1982
[Doha Sheraton Hotel], Doha, Qatar
Nob Hill Condominiums, San Francisco
Park La Brea, Los Angeles
Performing Arts Center, Whittier, California
1983
Lockheed headquarters, Calabasas, California
Park Wellington Condominiums, Los Angeles
T-2 Information Systems, Carlsbad, California
source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Pereira)