COLL 27 – David R. Williams Papers
Williams was an architect, a government official, a city planner, a bon vivant and a Texan. Interests in architecture and engineering honed through work in a railroad foundry and correspondence study were developed at the University of Texas at Austin. Williams toured Europe in the early 1920s where he furthered his education in architecture and acquired a notable rare book collection which specialized in Renaissance architecture. Williams returned from Europe and established an architectural practice in Dallas, Texas, in 1924. During the next nine years, he evolved a style which borrowed heavily from pioneer Texas buildings which he called the "indigenous architecture." During World War II Williams worked with war housing where he made pioneering efforts in the field of prefabrication. From 1945 until his retirement in 1951 Williams worked for a number of government agencies planning hospitals, designing tropic and arctic housing, and developing special housing projects in Venezuela. This collection reflects the life and work of Williams, his wife, Lyle and his daughter, Davida. Williams was an avid amateur photographer so the collection contains an extensive subsection of photographs.
