Mid2Mod: William Krisel

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

William Krisel

William Krisel (1924- ) was born in Shanghai, China, where his father had a State Department job. In 1937 the family came back to the United States and settled in Beverly Hills, California. At age 16, Krisel entered the University of Southern California's School of Architecture.

His studies were interrupted by World War II, which saw him working with Army Intelligence as a Chinese language interpreter. Following the war, he resumed his studies on the GI Bill, graduating in 1949. By 1954 he had become a licensed landscape architect as well. His mentors included Raphael Soriano and Garrett Eckbo.

He worked as an apprentice in the offices of Paul Laszlo and Victor Gruen and formed a partnership with Dan Saxon Palmer and named the firm Palmer & Krisel, AIA. The partnership was dissolved in 1964, although together they designed high- and low-rise office and apartment buildings, shopping centers, schools, hospitals, hotels restaurants and affordable tract housing in the Los Angeles area during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Krisel proudly described himself as a developer's architect. According to him, "In the 1950s, it wasn't enough for an architect to design well. You had to convince builders they would make money." And if you developed a relationship with a builder and did good work, you didn't have to search for clients. By 1957, he reportedly was working with seven of the 10 largest home builders in the country, most notably George Alexander, and by the 1960s, he declined any commission for fewer than 50 houses.

By his own calculation, he and his partners were responsible for more than 40,000 units of housing in Southern California, bringing the aesthetics and values of casual indoor/outdoor living to the masses and exemplified the building boom that took place after World War II.

From dwell.com, modernsandiego.com, palmspringslife.com and getty.edu