An Extraordinary Legacy: Beverly Willis on Breaking Ground and Rewriting the Narrative
Beverly Willis, 2012. Photo Credit: Wanda Bubriski.
By Amy Stone
Beverly Willis FAIA is a pioneering architect and stalwart advocate for the representation of women in architecture. With a career spanning seven decades, Beverly’s contributions to architecture are unparalleled. Trained as an artist at the Univeristy of Hawaii, her background served as a bridge to design and architecture. She designed for over forty years and was involved in over eight hundred projects, including well-respected adaptive reuse projects and the San Fransico Ballet Building.
Beverly Willis helped found the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C; she served as the first woman president of AIA California; she also served on the first U.S. delegation to the United Nations conference on Habitat. Recognizing the lack of women’s representation in the historic and contemporary architectural narrative, she founded the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation (BWAF) and worked to elevate the voice and visibility of women in architecture in books, articles, research, and film. An icon and trailblazer, Beverly’s sustained dedication and contribution to architecture has elevated the profession.
In her interview with Amy Stone, Beverly discusses her oblique entry to architecture, her career-long emphasis on demonstrating the value of design for the public at large, and her optimism for a global influence. She advises those starting out to be curious about what you don’t know and to expand your connections and influences.
AS: Let’s start at the beginning with your early years. How did you develop an interest in architecture?
BW: I came to architecture through a very circuitous route. I’m an accidental architect. I spent my early years in Oklahoma playing in the oil fields around the oil derricks and among acres and acres of oil and meadow. I think subconsciously that put me in the mindset of building. Starting at six until I was twelve, I was in an orphanage. It was the great depression. They had orphan trains taking children from the East Coast to the Midwest. The feeling at the time was that there was more food in the Midwest than on the East Coast, which wasn’t necessarily true.
Aviation was my first big interest before architecture or art. I first tried to find a living for myself in writing. I wrote several articles for a local newspaper in Portland, Oregon, but I realized my writing skills were very limited. When I discovered art, and eventually architecture, I began to really find myself.
Tell me about the early days of your career.
I studied fine art at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu and specialized in fresco painting in the style of the Renaissance. My background as a fresco painter, in my mind, is a bridge between art and architecture because I had to have building skills to paint murals. We plastered the wall, put on a skim coat, and then painted the plaster when it was still wet to make a traditional fresco painting. That was my first introduction to building materials.
The first years of my career were as an artist. This was the era of industrial design. Artists designed both labels and graphics but extended that into designing three dimensional objects like automobiles and that naturally extended to buildings.
Vine Terrace Apartments, now called Nob Hill Court Condominiums, located at 930 Pine Street, San Francisco, CA, 1973. Designed under the city’s building code mandating bay windows. Courtesy of Beverly Willis.
San Francisco Ballet Building Entry, Civic Center, San Francisco, CA, 1983. First building in the U.S. ever designed exclusively for the use of a ballet company. Photography by Peter Aaron. Copyright granted from Esto Photographics Inc. (photographed in 1984).
With such varied interested between aviation, writing, fine art, industrial design, how did you become an architect? What did you discover about yourself in that process?
Around the age of twenty-five, I was doing work that involved graphics, interior design, and architecture — the whole package. It was through providing these services that I learned about architects. I would hire architects to do the architectural design and I would do the graphics and interior work.
Once, I hired an architect and I critiqued his design work. He sort of snarled at me and responded, in so many words, “If you think you are so smart, why don’t you become an architect.” I saw that challenge as an interesting one. It opened my eyes to the possibility of becoming an architect.
The problem I had when I applied to take the architectural license in California in 1965 was the fact that I did not go to architecture school and that I did not work for an architect. Those were the two ways you qualified then, and I did not qualify on either of those two points. I was, frankly, already practicing architecture at the time. I felt very qualified to take the architecture examination.
I was designing a house for Daniel Inouye, one of the two first Senators from Hawaii. I went to his Senate office to visit him, and he asked how things were going. I said, “Well fine, except for this one problem” I explained about not being able to sit for the exam in California. He laughed and said, “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I can help you.” I asked how and he said, “Watch me.” He picked up the phone and called the Governor of California and they chatted. In the following days, I got a letter from AIA in California inviting me to sit for the exam. I studied for three months and passed on the first try. It took a senator and the governor of California. Their argument was that if I wasn’t qualified, I’d fail – end of story — but if I can pass like everyone else that takes it, I should be able to take it. That’s what allowed me to become an architect.
“It was a multi-decade evolution for women to move from the fringes of architecture to where they are today. My career has spanned that era.”
Incredible. That’s no quiet entry. Walk me through the moments of your career that have been most significant to you. What have been the highlights and why?
My three ‘claims to fame’, so to say, include my approach to adaptive reuse in San Francisco, adopting computerized modeling early on, and developing a whole new building type for the San Francisco Ballet in 1982. That’s the building I’m most proud of. I’m also proud of the process. I asked the dancers and administrators: “What kind of building do you want” and their answer was, “We don’t know.” So, I operated with the same method and process I’ve been using my entire career — my entire life actually — which is asking questions, listening to what was said to learn the answers, and observing closely. The project was a major accomplishment and was the first of its kind in the US as a building entirely dedicated to the use of ballet. It set a model of future ballet buildings.
I recently read an article about buildings that are about forty years old being demolished to make way for new building. I’m proud to say that the buildings I’ve designed from the ground up in California are still in place.
You’ve always worked for yourself, and you ran own practice from the 1960s and onward, which was one of the few in the country. Would you consider running your own practice a highlight?
I’m a designer. I’m not a manager. Of course, I had to have management skills for business, but it wasn’t necessarily my main focus. Architects have a wide range of knowledge. I like to focus on the design and construction more than the management of the firm. We grew to thirty-five people, which in those days was a substantial size.
I remained involved in the production of the design and architecture for building projects. One of my strengths was having ideas that weren’t patterned on something existing. I had to invent as I went along. Architects are responsible for a wide range of knowledge.
River Run Residence and Vineyard, Napa Valley, CA, 1983. Willis’ design for her own residence was influenced by the Palladian villas of the Veneto. Now owned by Nancy and Paul Pelosi. Courtesy of Beverly Willis.
Aliamanu Valley Community for Military Families, Honolulu, HI, 1979. Beverly Willis & Associates, designed and engineered this community of 525 buildings for 11,500 residents in an extinct volcano crater adjacent to Pearl Harbor, using the CARLA system in a record time of 9 months. Photo Credit: Beverly Willis Archive.
Site Model of one proposed design (unbuilt) for Yerba Buena Gardens, a downtown 20-acre site, San Francisco, CA, 1980. Development Team led by Olympia & York, included Marriott, Rouse Company, and Beverly Willis, 1980-1984. Courtesy of Beverly Willis.
What do you consider the biggest challenges in your career?
One challenge was the financial one. The fees published by the architecture society were not large enough to cover all those hours that one needs with the client and immersing yourself into their world and their needs.
I have witnessed, over the course of my career, a dramatic change in the practice of architecture. First, there were no women to speak of. Julia Morgan was unique. When I started, there were maybe five women-owned practices across the country. We went from that period of history where there were very few women in the profession to a period when women are entering architecture in substantial numbers. We’ve gone from a time in the 1970s were there was an anti-women movement in the architecture community to today where women are completely accepted. It was a multi-decade evolution for women to move from the fringes of architecture to where they are today. My career has spanned that era.
What is also so unique about that career span is how you have played such a pivotal role in transforming the narrative of women in architecture. How did the Beverly Willis Architectural Foundation come about and how has it evolved over the years?
The foundation came to fruition decades ago when I was working with two close friends who were allies in the discussion of women in architecture. We founded the organization to address women’s lack of visibility, equity, and recognition within the architectural profession — not just in the making of architecture but in the history of architecture. The driving mission of the foundation has not changed. Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation was originally about supporting work that wrote about or made films about women in the historical narrative of architecture in the US. It was very focused. It has grown over the years and has become a fixture and leader for women’s equity in architecture.
“One thing that has benefited me is the fact that I’m very stubborn. I don’t necessarily listen when people tell me what they think I should do. That has served me well.”
We’re all better for it, Beverly. The mission of BWAF and Madame Architect are closely aligned, and we so admire the shift you’ve made in our profession to elevate the voice and visibility of women.
Who are you admiring right now and why?
I’d like to mention three women, all from different skillsets. Nancy Pelosi is the first. I’ve known her for many, many years. Seeing her face down death every day for doing her job is incredible. Whoever thought we’d be at this moment in US history where we’d be seeing that kind of raw aggression toward anyone in that role.
I’ve also always admired Jeanie Gang for her innovative design and the range of her work.
The third is Sarah Whiting, whose brilliant mind has reimagined architecture culture — whether as theorist, pedagogue or leader, who currently serves as Dean of GSAD at Harvard, the first woman to do so.
What is your core mission? What is the impact you want to be remembered for?
My core mission has been to expand the definition of an architect to include the concept of public architect. This concept goes back to the renaissance where some of the outstanding and leading artists of the renaissance participated in the more public world. I don’t believe being a public architect means you can’t be an art architect. My core mission has been to demonstrate the ability for design to be involved with the public at large.
I’ve always tended to think more in terms of the larger organization and secondarily on women as part of that organization. Of course, supporting women has also been part of my mission.
Beverly Willis Portrait in Hard Hat, San Francisco, CA, 1982. Courtesy of Beverly Willis.
Beverly Willis, in signature white, front center, New York City, 2021. Inaugural BEVY Leadership Awards Celebration of the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, October 2021. Photography by Wanda Bubriski.
What do you wish you knew starting out that you know now?
I’m not sure that I would change anything. Perhaps, I would have liked to participate more in the global arena as opposed to being focused exclusively on the US, which has been most of my life. I’ve been delighted to have my work exhibited in the MAXXI Museum in Rome. Hopefully that’s the beginning of a more global influence. Time will tell!
Finally, what advice do you have for those who are starting their careers?
I think that regardless of your profession, one of the key issues is knowing what you don’t know. Many of us, like myself, never really thought about that question. In my background, coming out of an orphanage, I just didn’t have anybody to guide me or answer questions about different avenues of work. So, I learned as I went along. You end up following blind alleys because you haven’t looked at the bigger picture. If you have a plan you can think in terms of ways of implementing it.
You need to follow your vision and follow your heart. Nobody can tell you correctly if its right or wrong. As long as it’s not evil and it’s not hurtful, you have a wide range of possibilities to endeavor to follow your vision.
I’ve found it very important to get to know people outside of the design field. In my case, for example, knowing a senator and governor helped me take my exams.
One thing that has benefited me is the fact that I’m very stubborn. I don’t necessarily listen when people tell me what they think I should do. That has served me well.
From one stubborn woman to another, I’m happy to hear that quality is part of the recipe for success.
Thank you so much, Beverly. It’s been a complete honor.
Beverly Willis Self Portrait, ink on paper, 1990. Photo Credit: Beverly Willis Archive.