Regarding Paul R. Williams: A Photographer’s View of a Trailblazing Architect is a photographic exploration of the work of the first licensed Black architect west of the Mississippi River. Janna Ireland, an award-winning photographer, presents a collection of stunning, intimate black-and-white photographs of the work of Paul Revere Williams. This expanded edition contains 16 pages of new photographs taken since the publication of the 2020 edition, including two new photographs of the house Williams designed for himself in 1952.

Known as “Hollywood’s Architect”, Paul Revere Williams was a Los Angeles native who built a wildly successful career as an architect decades before the Civil Rights Movement. He designed municipal buildings and private homes as well as banks, churches, hospitals, and university halls. He designed public housing projects and mansions for celebrities like Frank Sinatra and Lucille Ball. In 1923, Williams became the first Black member of the American Institute of Architects. In 2017, nearly forty years after his death, he became the first Black recipient of the AIA Gold Medal.

In her book Regarding Paul R. Williams: A Photographer’s View of a Trailblazing Architect, artist Janna Ireland explores the work and legacy of Williams through a series of intimate black-and-white photographs. Ireland gives the reader a vision of Williams that is both universal and highly personal. More than a book of architectural photographs, Regarding Paul R. Williams is the result of one artist’s encounter with another, connecting across different generations within the same city.