Arthur Rolland Kelly (1878–1959) was an American architect who designed approximately five hundred homes and buildings, mostly in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

area.

Early life and education

Arthur Rolland Kelly was born in

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

to Irish parents who emigrated from

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

sometime around 1876. Kelly studied architecture at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

under

Nathan Clifford Ricker Nathan Clifford Ricker, D.Arch (June 24, 1843 – March 19, 1924) was a professor and architect known for his work at the University of Illinois. He was born on a farm near Acton, Maine June 24, 1843. In 1875, he was married to Mary Carter ...

, and graduated in 1902. He settled in

later that year, after a three-month tour of Europe.

Career

One of Kelly's first jobs was at the architectural firm

Greene and Greene Greene and Greene was an architecture, architectural firm established by brothers Charles Sumner Greene (1868–1957) and Henry Mather Greene (January 23, 1870 – October 2, 1954), influential early 20th century American architects. Active prim ...

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...

. Kelly opened his own firm a few years later, initially creating homes in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

and its surrounding areas. The majority of his work during this time was

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the arch ...

in design.Anderson, Timothy J. (et al, editor). California Design 1910. Salt Lake City. Peregrine Smith Books. 1974. The 1920s was a very prolific period for Kelly. He specialized in

Spanish Colonial Revival The Spanish Colonial Revival architecture (), often known simply as Spanish Revival, is a term used to encompass a number of revivalist architectural styles based in both Spanish colonial architecture and Spanish architecture in general. Thes ...

and

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture, also known as mock Tudor in the UK, first manifested in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture, in rea ...

homes, with most of his works made for clients who had purchased lots in

Holmby Hills Holmby Hills is a neighborhood on the Westside of Los Angeles, California, United States. The neighborhood was developed in the early 20th century by the Janss Investment Company, which developed the rest of Westwood, Los Angeles as well as oth ...

and

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hil ...

. Kelly's most notable works during this time period include the Arthur Letts Jr. estate in Holmby Hills (now known as the

Playboy Mansion The Playboy Mansion, also known as the Playboy Mansion West, is the former home of ''Playboy'' magazine founder Hugh Hefner, who lived there from 1971 until his death in 2017. Barbi Benton convinced Hefner to buy the home located in Holmby H ...

); Beverly Hills estates for J. Crampton Anderson,

John Blystone John G. Blystone (December 2, 1892 – August 6, 1938) was an American film director. He directed 100 films between 1915 and 1938. He was born in Rice Lake, Wisconsin and died in Los Angeles, California from a heart attack. His grave is loc ...

Richard Dix Richard Dix (born Ernst Carlton Brimmer; July 18, 1893 – September 20, 1949) was an American motion picture actor who achieved popularity in both silent film, silent and sound film. His standard on-screen image was that of the rugged and sta ...

, and

Johnny Mack Brown John Brown (September 1, 1904 – November 14, 1974) was an American college football player and film actor billed as John Mack Brown at the height of his screen career. He acted and starred mainly in Western films. Early life Born and raised ...

; and the William S. Hart House in Newhall. Kelly also designed the

Westlake School for Girls Harvard-Westlake School is an independent, co-educational university preparatory day school in Los Angeles, California, with about 1,600 students in grades seven through twelve. The school has two campuses: the middle school campus in Holmby ...

Wilshire Country Club Wilshire Country Club is an 18-hole private golf club on the West Coast of the United States, located in Los Angeles, California. The club in Hancock Park was founded in 1919 and its Norman Macbeth-designed course opened the following year. So ...

, and

Christie Hotel Christie Hotel, formerly The Hollywood Inn and The Drake, is a historic eight-story building at 6724 W. Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood, California. Considered Hollywood's first skyscraper and also its first luxury hotel, the building features Geor ...

during this time. From the 1930s to the early 1950s, Kelly worked in association with his son Joseph Rolland Kelly.

Personal life

Arthur married Enid Harrod Kelly and they had one son named Joseph.

Death

Kelly died on March 25, 1959 in

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

List of works

Notable Kelly works include (in

unless otherwise noted): * John T. Allen Ranch House (1909) * Everest House, Monrovia (1909) * Baltimore Hotel #2 (1909-1910) * Frost-Tufts House (1911) *

(1919) * Earle C. Anthony Home (1921) *

(1922),

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic dist ...

in the

Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District The Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District is a historic district that consists of twelve blocks between the 6200 and 7000 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. This strip of commercial and retail busines ...

* 1920 Laughlin Park Drive (1922) * William S Hart House, Newhall (1925) Playboy Mansion North Side 2007

* Arthur Letts Jr House (1927) *

(1927) * W. B. Cline House, Beverly Hills (1930) * E. J. Fuss House (1939)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Arthur R Architects from California American residential architects 1878 births 1959 deaths University of Illinois alumni