The Pi Beta Phi sorority commissioned this Colonial Revival residence in 1973, engaging Paul R. Williams for what would become one of the final commissions of his six-decade career. Williams closed his practice that same year after declining health, making this sorority house on the Row a capstone to a body of work encompassing more than 3,000 buildings. The commission arrived at a particular moment in American social history: five years after the Fair Housing Act, on a street originally developed by bank presidents, for a national organization operating within the exclusionary structures common to Greek life in this era. Williams, who had spent his career designing houses in neighborhoods whose racial covenants would have barred his own residency, built this three-story structure facing Kappa Alpha Psi directly across the street.
The building presents Williams's characteristic synthesis of traditional vocabulary and California pragmatism. A flat roof and smooth stucco walls provide the underlying structure, distinctly regional in their materials and massing. Onto this framework Williams layered the signifiers of Colonial Revival dignity: a pedimented entry approached by brick steps, multi-paned double-hung sash windows with flanking shutters, a third-floor balustraded balcony, and slightly recessed first-story wings that give the composition depth and shadow. Shallow overhanging eaves crown the composition, while a pair of magnolia trees flank the concrete path through the grassy front yard. The design demonstrates what Williams accomplished throughout his career: not copying Eastern prototypes but creating Los Angeles buildings clients would recognize as dignified and appropriate to institutional purpose.
