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EMERSON STEWART WILLIAMS, FAIA (1909-2005)
Williams grew up in Dayton OH where his father Harry was an architect. He graduated from Cornell in 1932 then taught at Columbia 1934 to 1938. Then Williams traveled through northern Europe and he met a Swedish woman who he would marry two years later. Upon returning to the US he worked in Raymond Loewy's office on projects for the 1939 New York World's Fair, and the Lord and Taylor department store in Manhasset NY in 1941, one of the first large suburban branches of a department store to be built. Around 1941 Stewart returned to Palm Springs to work for his father's architecture firm. By 1943 Williams was involved in the building of ships at the Bechtel Marin County facility in Sausalito CA followed by a stint with the Navy. He designed some fantastic houses, plus the Palm Spring Museum of Art. Williams is honored on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars. Bio adapted from Wikipedia. Research by Catherine Westergaard Cramer and Melissa Riche.
1947 - The Frank Sinatra House, aka Twin Palms, 1148 East Alejo Road, aka 1145 East Via Colusa, Palm Springs CA. Built for Sinatra and first wife Nancy Barbato who divorced in 1948. Site of a famous fight between Sinatra and second wife Ava Gardner. Sinatra moved out around 1956 and sold it around 1957 to a Texas couple who let it decline for 40 years. Sold in 1997 for only $135,000. Sold around 2007 to Eric Ellenbogen. Sold in 2009 to Thomas and Marianne O'Connell. BW photos by Julius Shulman. Available for tours and overnight rental.
1947 - The Marjorie Main Renovations, 276 East Palo Verde Avenue, Palm Springs CA. Originally designed and built in 1931, not by Williams. Listed in his archives. Could also be plans for a new house. Sold in 2008 to Troy Willams and Gino Dreese.
1949 - The O. J. Guidry House, Palm Springs. Unbuilt. Guidry was a Palm Springs resident - he was a porter and then a maintenance man for a well-known restaurant called Desmond's. Addresses at that time for him show living at 634 Cedar in the Crossley Tract, which was the Black housing community.
1951 - The Sam and Rose Maceo House, 43 Cedar Lawn Circle, Galveston TX. Commissioned 1950. Sam Maceo liked the Sinatra house and wanted one like it. He died before moving in. His wife Rose stayed until 1954, when she remarried. On the market until 1961 when it was vandalized, then sold to Jack Evans. Sold to Robert Moody, Rose Maceo's nephew. Sold to Bart Moore. Sold to William Nealon. Sold to James and Kimberly Penn. Sold in 2019 to Andrew Jefferies. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
1951 - The Ralph and Nancy Chaffee Kiner House, 71279 Country Club Drive, Thunderbird Country Club, Rancho Mirage CA. Palm Springs architect Michael Kiner grew up there. Sold in 2010 to Ken and Joanne Pfeifer. Has been significantly remodeled. Sold in 2022 to Jeffrey P. Engleman Trust.
1951 - The Albert H. and Mae Weinert House, Smoke Tree Ranch, Palm Springs CA. Weinert was President of the Board of Directors for Smoke Tree Ranch. Williams also did a remodel in 1964.
1951 - The Benno Rubinyi House, 8821 Ashcroft Avenue, Los Angeles CA. Needs verification. Sold to Dudley J. Geiger.
1952 - The H. J. Bligh House, 40257 Club View Drive, Rancho Mirage CA. Next door to Cody's Jorgenson Residence. Sold to Loretta Nicastro. Photo by Julius Shulman.
1952 - The Gottfried (Fred) Karlen House, 71023 Cypress Drive, Rancho Mirage CA. In 1955 Karlen, a lumber executive, was elected the 2nd president of Thunderbird Country Club (succeeding Johnny Dawson). Destroyed around 2005.
1953 - The William P. and Marjorie McInerny Edris House, 1030 West Cielo Drive, Palm Springs CA. Edris previously owned the Davenport, Olympic, and Roosevelt hotels in Washington state. He also held interests in the Seattle Rainers, the Pugent Sound Bridge and Dredging Company, and Dennison Foods. House was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. Sold in 2018 to Jon Roberts. B/W photos by Julius Shulman; third photo by Michael Locke.
1955 - The Randolph Christie House, 40137 Sand Dune Road, Thunderbird Country Club, Rancho Mirage CA. On the 13th fairway of the golf course. Destroyed around 2005, new house built in 2017. Photos by George Szanik.
1955 - The Leon J. and Thea Koerner House, 1275 South Calle de Maria, Palm Springs CA. Landscape design by Garrett Eckbo. Williams also designed an addition in 1973. Sold in 1997 to Henry and Allan Lamb. Sold in 2018 to Sawtooth Investments (David and Katherine Wright). Renovated. Recognized as a historic site by the City of Palm Springs in 2023.
1955 - The Ernest Geierman House, Laguna Beach CA. Unsure if built.
1956 - The E. Stewart and Mari Williams House, 1314 Culver Place, Palm Springs CA. Commissioned 1955. Alterations in 1991. Sold to artist Dale Chihuly. Sold in 2002 to Mark E. Pollack. Sold in 2021 to Mark E. Pollack. B/W photo by Julius Shulman.
1956 - The Roderick Kenaston House, 39767 Desert Sun Drive, Rancho Mirage CA. Sold in 2007 to Daniel Ivascyn. Sold to Lisa Brownell.
1957 - The H. E. Chiles Jr. House, 7231 North Desert Fairways Drive, Paradise Valley AZ. Deeded to his daughter, head of the Ballard Family Trust.
1957 - The John M. and Molly Scott House, 71-305 Cypress Drive, Rancho Mirage CA. Has been altered away from Modernism. Sold in 2014.
1957 - The Walter McDonald House, Phoenix AZ. Status unknown.
1958 - 1066 East Paseo El Mirador, Palm Springs CA. Unbuilt.
1960 - The Theodore and Marguerite Sutter House, 1207 South Calle de Maria, Palm Springs CA. Commissioned 1958. Interiors by Arthur Elrod. Sold to Stephen L. Rose. Sold to Brian John Schipper. Sold in 2021 to Robert Jay and Kelly Julieann Kaplan. B/W photos by Julius Shulman; color photo by Michael Locke.
1962 - aka the Little Tuscany Addition, 1025 West Chino Canyon Road, Palm Springs CA. Original home designed in 1952 by A. C. Martin from Los Angeles. There were later remodels, not by Williams, and he dropped it from his project list. Sold in 2009 to James and Kathleen Youngren. Sold in 2016.
1963 - The Hampton C. Robinson Jr. House, Houston TX. Status unknown.
1964 - The Harold J. and Mary Hicks House, 860 West Panorama Road, Palm Springs CA. Mr. Hicks was chairman of the Committee to Incorporate the City of Palm Springs in 1938 and served as a Palm Springs planning commissioner. Sold in 2014 to Brandon Creed. Interiors by Arthur Elrod. Photos by Michael Locke.
1965 - The Bob Hope House, Palm Springs CA. Unbuilt. John Lautner later got the commission, which was built.
1966 - The Alma Walker House, 2433 Southridge Drive, Palm Springs CA. Article in the February 3, 1967 issue of the Desert Sun stated that the first shovel of dirt had been moved and Williams described the plans as "a pavilion overlooking an 18' x 70' swimming pool, lined with olive trees through which a superb view of Mount San Jacinto could be admired." Unbuilt.
1965 - The Michael (Mike) and Lorena Nidorf House. Lorena was an actress and was also once married to Louis B. Mayer, head of MGM, from 1948 until 1957 when Mayer died. Status unknown.
1967 - The Paul A. and Jane M. Schoellkopf Jr. House, Smoke Tree Ranch, Palm Springs CA.
1970 - The Paul A. and Jane M. Schoellkopf Jr. House, East Aurora NY. Unbuilt, according to daughter Susan Schoellkopf.
1971 - The William Holden House, 2433 Southridge Drive, Palm Springs CA. The actor purchased the Alma Walker property above with the plans. Unbuilt. In 1977 Holden built a house there designed by Hugh Kaptur.
1977 - The Alan Leslie House, 1060 West Cielo Drive, Little Tuscany, Palm Springs CA. Renovated in 2012 by Michael Johnston, who expanded the great room. Sold in 2013 to John Sherratt and David Howe.
1985 - The Erik and Sidney Williams House, 800 West Stevens Road, Palm Springs CA. Commissioned 1983. Built for Williams' son and daughter-in-law. Williams did alterations in 1986. Sold in the early 1990s. Sold in 2011 to Frasier producer David Lee. Renovation in 2021 by Joshua Smith. Top photo by Michael Locke.
1988 - The Adrian and Cass Graff-Radford House, 40380 Desert Creek Lane, Rancho Mirage CA. 7400sf. Sold to Ann Morrison. Mark Nichols did renovations. Sold in 2015 to Diane Rubin and Lenny Eber.
1990 - The Linda Ragin and David Levine House, Palm Springs CA. Unbuilt.
Sources include: Morris Newman; Sidney Williams; The E. Stewart Williams Collection at Palm Springs Museum of Art; Melissa Riche.