Jump 30 years forward and 34
miles south of Beverly Hills to return
to Palos Verdes, circa 1960. The
SeaView subdivision was not the
first project of its kind that Williams
had designed. "He started designing
projects we'd think of as residential
developments early in his career,"
Luebbers notes. "At that time, there
was a lot of mention in architectural
magazines about building for rapidly
growing urban populations, and
Williams was much publicized for his
smaller houses."
Unlike the proverbial tract housing
development dotted with identical
homes, SeaView buyers were allowed
some customization. The homes
themselves were built according to
one of eight floor plans, as noted
earlier, but each floor plan could
be flipped, resulting in a total of 16
possible options for the home's layout.
"Once you chose the layout, you could
have the home's exterior dressed up
in a variety of modern presentations,"
explains Luebbers. "One 'skin' looked
very Western, another was more
Japanese, and they used a lot of rock
from the peninsula. The rock shows up
in many of the different styles."
The way Williams designed the
interiors, and the various finishes he
used, gave homeowners the feeling
of living in a custom-made home.
Modern materials like Formica, rubber
tile flooring, aluminum and laminates
were in high demand at the time, and
Williams' SeaView homes made ample
use of the new look. Some homes
featured shoji screens to divide living
spaces, and native rock was used to
adorn floor-to-ceiling fireplaces.
WILLIAM FORD HACIENDA | OJAI, CA
[ P A U L R E V E R E W I L L I A M S ]
