E. Stewart Williams - History

History

E. Stewart Williams's father, Harry Williams, was a well-respected architect originally based in Dayton, Ohio best known for designing the offices of National Cash Register-NCR. In 1934 Julia Carnell, whose husband was the comptroller of NCR, decided that a commercial development in Palm Springs, where she wintered, would be a good investment and brought Harry Williams to Palm Springs to design the historic La Plaza Shopping Center. Harry Williams stayed on in the city afterward, opening his own architectural practice, which was later joined by E. Stewart's younger brother, Roger, also an architect.

E. Stewart Williams completed his undergraduate studies at Cornell University in 1932 and was elected to the Sphinx Head Society. Williams then taught at Columbia University from 1934 to 1938. In 1938 Williams traveled through northern Europe and he met a Swedish woman on the trip, who he would marry two years later after a prolonged separation due to the war. Upon returning he worked in Raymond Loewy's office. In Loewy's office Williams' responsibilities included projects for the 1939 New York World's Fair, and the Lord and Taylor department store in Manhasset, Long Island in 1941, one of the first large suburban branches of a department store to be built.

In 1941 Williams began working in his father's Dayton, Ohio office on defense-related projects. By 1943 E. Stewart Williams was involved in the building of ships at the Bechtel Marin County facility in Sausalito, California, followed by a stint at Mare Island in the San Francisco Bay with the Navy.

A resident of Palm Springs, California, Williams had a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars dedicated to him in 2008. Williams died in 2005 and is buried in the Welwood Murray Cemetery in Palm Springs.