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Today's house hunter may especially appreciate Williams' predilection for closets and cabinets. "He was a storage freak," Luebbers quips. "There is a huge amount of storage space for such small houses, yet the homes still feel large and airy." That sense of spaciousness was all part of Williams' goal of designing homes that people would enjoy living in. A former Williams associate was quoted in an interview from the UCLA archives as saying that Williams wanted people to feel good in the various rooms of a house, so he ensured that the floor plan allowed enough natural light and ample shade. He also wanted his homes to blend well with the natural environment. "The SeaView homes are oriented to the landscape," Luebbers says. "If there is a view of the ocean, that's emphasized. Some of the homes are built into the hill, so you have a different kind of orientation to the space. All have privacy. And the most important aesthetic potential of the landscape is what's maximized; the houses don't just sit square on the lot and look straight across the street." According to Luebbers, there are still some homeowners at SeaView who bought their homes from the developer in the early 1960s. Overall, she says that "the houses are reasonably intact. They haven't had strict design codes, so there are some homes where the people have romanticized them and added second stories and funky ironwork." Luebbers notes that various SeaView homes remain much the same as they were when Williams designed them. "It's important to mention that some of the residents are trying to get a historic designation. In my opinion, it should be granted." At press time, no designations have been issued. Most of Williams' designs, plans, letters and datebooks were destroyed during the Los Angeles riots, but his granddaughter, Karen Hudson, has written books about her grandfather's works, and the University of Memphis's Paul R. Williams Project has made a trove of information about Williams and his projects available online, along with developing a K-12 education program. "I feel fortunate to have seen a vast store of plans, drawings, sketches, and complete sets of architectural plans and working drawings that [Williams' granddaughter] had," Luebbers says. "There were even plans for a 'hotel on the coast,' but no one knows which hotel, or which coast. Putting together his story is just a patient process of tracking things down." If the aqua-blue brochure didn't convince you to buy a SeaView home in 1960, you may have been moved by this excerpt from the Los Angeles Times describing the new Williams homes at SeaView as a fine purchase "…in the way of comfort, élan, and those delightful luxuries which make the difference between 'a place to live' and a residence you enjoy to the full and want others to see." [ P A U L R E V E R E W I L L I A M S ] 1 WILLIAMSBURG LANE 118 ARCHITECT | DESIGN | BUILD 12.19.2014