Rowland Henry Crawford (1902–1973) was an American architect and artist. Most of his buildings are located 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, ...

metro area.

Biography

Rowland Crawford was born October 28, 1902, in

Deadwood, South Dakota Deadwood (Lakota: ''Owáyasuta''; "To approve or confirm things") is a city that serves as the county seat of Lawrence County, South Dakota, United States. It was named by early settlers after the dead trees found in its gulch. The city had its ...

. He attended the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

from 1920 to 1923, and was a member of its first architecture class. From 1924 to 1925, he attended the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

.Online Archive of California: Rowland Henry Crawford papers
/ref> Following a two-year scholarship at the

American Academy in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome, Italy. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History 19th century In 1893, a group of American architect ...

, where he studied painting, he returned to Los Angeles to join the architectural firm of Webber & Spaulding, designers of the Avalon Casino on Santa Catalina and the

Harold Lloyd Estate The Harold Lloyd Estate, also known as Greenacres, is a large mansion and landscaped estate located in the Benedict Canyon section of Beverly Hills, California. Built in the late 1920s by silent film star Harold Lloyd, it remained Lloyd's home ...

.Pacific Coast Architecture Database
/ref> In 1930, he moved to the firm of Gordon B. Kaufmann. While there, he served as the chief architect for two well-known projects; the

Los Angeles Times Building Los Angeles Times Building refers to five buildings that have housed the ''Los Angeles Times'' offices since 1881. The fourth site, Times Mirror Square, is currently composed of four structures but in the absence of other specifics "Los Angeles Ti ...

and the

Santa Anita Race Track Santa Anita Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious races ...

. He established his own firm in

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 ...

in 1938. His better-known projects include the

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

Department Store in

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

(1947), The Beverly Hills Law Building (1947),

The Brentwood Country Mart The Brentwood Country Mart is a local shopping center in the Brentwood district of Los Angeles, California, next to the Santa Monica eastern city limit. First opened on November 18, 1948, “it’s a quaint reminder of a bygone era, and Brentwoo ...

(1948), the El Rancho Shopping Center in Arcadia (1955), remodeling the

Hollywood Brown Derby Brown Derby was a chain of restaurants in Los Angeles, California. The first and best known was shaped like a derby hat, an iconic image that became synonymous with the Golden Age of Hollywood. It was opened by Wilson Mizner in 1926. The chain ...

(1960s) and major additions to

Beverly Hills High School Beverly Hills High School (shortly as BHHS or Beverly) is a public high school in Beverly Hills, California. The other public high school in Beverly Hills is Moreno High School, a small alternative school located on Beverly Hills High School's c ...

(1967–1970). One of his last projects was

Crenshaw High School Crenshaw High School is a four-year public secondary school in the Los Angeles Unified School District, located on 11th Avenue in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The school first opened in 1968 and currently enrolls arou ...

(1968).

American Architects Directory The ''American Architects Directory'' is a directory of American architects registered with the American Institute of Architects. It was published by R. R. Bowker LLC. The first edition was published in 1956, second edition in 1962, and third edit ...

, Second edition 1962 In addition to his design work, he was in charge of master planning for the Beverly Hills Board of Education, served on the Bel-air Architectural Supervisory Committee (with over ten years as chairman), the Westwood Architectural Supervisory Committee and the

Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce is Southern California's largest not-for-profit business federation, representing the interests of more than 235,000 businesses in L.A. County, more than 1,400 member companies and more than 722,430 emplo ...

Construction Industries Committee. He also was the founder and first president of the University of Southern California’s Architectural Guild.

References

External links

Santa Monica Landmark Properties: Sears Department Store

The Beverly Hills Law Building

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, Rowland 20th-century American architects Architects from California 1902 births 1973 deaths