Photographer Janna Ireland explores Paul Revere Williams' overlooked Nevada creations

A new exhibition at the Nevada Museum of Art will showcase photographer Janna Ireland's ongoing investigation into the lost and overlooked work architect Paul Revere Williams produced within the state between the 1930s and 1970s.

The Reno institution will host Janna Ireland on the Architectural Legacy of Paul Revere Williams in Nevada for a period of months before it travels to the Nevada State Museum in Las Vegas in early December. 

In a New York Times preview last week, Ireland said she hopes the exhibition will inspire further preservation efforts of his disappeared and hard-to-document Western designs. 

Williams produced a total of four designs in and around Reno, all of which were made in the 1930s for members of his wealthy clientele that had fashioned the high desert as a tax-friendly second home. He later branched out to other areas of the state, where works such as his iconic A-frame Guardian Angel Cathedral from 1963 mixed in with other important elements of his career, exemplified by the Berkley Square homes he designed in 1957 for Las Vegas’ growing Black community. Further Williams' designs featured in her work include the La Concha Motel, Lovelock Inn, El Reno apartments, and Circle L Ranch.

Ireland's previous two-year delve into Williams’ Los Angeles-area legacy was praised by the Julius Shulman Institute's executive director Barbara Bestor for its ability to “capture the thought that went into making” the vast number of Southern California designs preservation groups are still fighting to maintain.

The show is open to the public and will run through December 2nd. Ticketing information can be found here.