Welton Becket

Becket was born in Seattle, Washington and graduated from the University of Washington program in Architecture in 1927 with a Bachelor of Architecture degree (B.Arch.).[1]

He moved to Los Angeles in 1933 and formed a partnership with his University of Washington classmate Walter Wurdeman and Angelean architect Charles F. Plummer. Their first major commission was the Pan-Pacific Auditorium in 1935, which won them residential jobs from James Cagney, Robert Montgomery, and other film celebrities. Plummer died in 1939.

The successor firm Wurdeman and Becket went on to design Bullock's Pasadena (1944) and a couple of corporate headquarters. Wurdeman and Becket developed the concept of "total design," whereby their firm would be responsible for master planning, engineering, interiors, furniture, fixtures, landscaping, signage, and even (in the case of restaurants) menus, silverware, matchbooks, and napkins.[2]

The 3,000-seat Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Project Designer Lou Naidorf, opened in 1958.

After Wurdeman's death in 1949, Becket formed Welton Becket and Associates and continued to grow the firm to the extent that it was one of the largest architectural offices in the world by the time of his death in 1969. In 1987, his firm was acquired by Ellerbe Associates, and the merged firm continued as Ellerbe Becket until the end of 2009, when it was acquired by AECOM. It is now known as Ellerbe Becket, an AECOM Company.[3]

Becket's buildings used unusual facade materials such as ceramic tile and stainless steel grillwork, repetitive geometric patterns, and a heavy emphasis on walls clad in natural stone, particularly travertine and flagstone.

With The Walt Disney Company and the United States Steel Corporation, Becket's firm co-designed Disney's Contemporary Resort, which opened in 1971 at Walt Disney World Resort. The Contemporary was designed as a 14-story steel A-frame with a monorail running through the building. Modular guest rooms were assembled, finished, furnished, fully equipped and their doors locked, on the ground, then lifted by crane and inserted into the frame; however, this sometimes took multiple tries.[4]

Welton Becket was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1952.

Becket's sons, Welton MacDonald Becket & Bruce Becket, are also practicing architects, as well as his nephew[5] MacDonald G. Becket and granddaughter Alexandra Becket.[6]

The 13-story Capitol Records Building, Project Designer Lou Naidorf.

City Hall Pomona, California, built in 1969, designed by Welton Becket and B.H. Anderson as two buildings joined by a central glass pavilion, Project Designer Marvin Taff (photograph taken in 2004).

Glendale Central Library, Project Designer Marvin Taff, finished March 13, 1973.

Becket's extensive list of credits includes:[7]

• Pan-Pacific Auditorium (destroyed by a fire), Los Angeles, CA, 1935 (with Walter Wurdeman)
• Jones Dog & Cat Hospital, West Hollywood, California, 1938 (with Walter Wurdeman)
• Manila Jai Alai Building (demolished), Manila, Philippines, 1939 (with Walter Wurdeman)
• General Petroleum Building, Los Angeles, CA, 1949 (with Walter Wurdeman)
• First National Bank of Arizona Building, Phoenix, AZ, 1950
• Welton Becket Residence, Los Angeles, CA, 1952
• Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, CA,1953
• Los Altos Center Mall, along Beach, CA 1953
• Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA,1953
• Baptist Memorial Hospital, Kansas City, MO, 1953
• Parker Center (formerly the Police Administration Building), Los Angeles, CA, 1955
• The Broadway department store (now Walmart) at Panorama City Shopping Center, Panorama City, Los Angeles, CA, 1955[8]
• The Broadway Orange County, now in Anaheim Plaza, Anaheim, CA, 1955
• Capitol Records Building, Los Angeles, CA, Project Designer Lou Naidorf, 1956
• Edens Plaza, Wilmette, Illinois, 1956
• Park Central Mall, Phoenix, AZ, 1956
• Texaco Building on Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, 1957[9]
• Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA, 1958
• Hotel Tryp Habana Libre (formerly the Habana Hilton), Havana, Cuba, 1958
• The Nile Ritz-Carlton, Cairo (formerly the Nile Hilton), Cairo, Egypt, 1959
• Sheraton Dallas Hotel (formerly the Adams Mark Dallas and Southland Center), Dallas, TX, 1959
• Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, CA, 1959 (demolished)
• Riviera Hotel and Casino expansion, Las Vegas, NV, 1959 (demolished)
• Los Angeles Customs House and Federal Office Building, Los Angeles, CA, 1960 (with Albert C. Martin and Paul R. Williams)
• 100 California Street, San Francisco, CA, 1960
• Kaiser Center, Oakland, CA, 1960
• Clark County Courthouse, Las Vegas, NV, 1961 (with Zick & Sharp)
• Grosmont Center, La Mesa, CA, 1961[9]
• Christown Mall, Phoenix, AZ, 1961[9]
• Robert McCulloch Residence, Palm Springs, CA, 1962
• Petersen Automotive Museum (formerly a Seibu and Ohrbach's department store), Los Angeles, CA, 1962
• Walt Whitman Shops, Huntington Station, NY, 1962
• Southern Cross Hotel, Melbourne, Australia, 1962 (demolished 2003)
• Interiors of the new Los Angeles International Airport, 1962
• Boeing Building (formally McCulloch Building, Hughes Space Research Center) El Segundo, CA, 1962[9]
• Airport Marina Hotel, Westchester, Los Angeles, 1961-2[10] (now Hotel June)
• Security First National Bank, El Segundo, CA, 1963 (demolished)
• U.S. Embassy, Warsaw, Poland, 1963
• Cinerama Dome, Los Angeles, CA, 1963
• Century City (masterplan), Los Angeles, CA, 1963
• Gateway West Building, Century City, Los Angeles, CA, 1963
• Biltmore Fashion Park, Phoenix, AZ, 1963
• Hartford National Bank, Hartford, CT 1963
• ExxonMobil Building (formerly Humble Oil Building) Houston, TX, 1963
• McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas, NV, 1963
• Orange Civic Center, Orange, CA, 1963
• Westfield Century City (formally Century City Mall) Century City, Los Angeles, CA, 1964
• Phillips Petroleum Building, Bartlesville, OK, 1964
• Federal Building, Los Angeles, CA, 1964
• North American Avaition Building, Los Angeles, 1964
• Los Angeles Music Center (officially the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County), which includes Dorthy Chandler Pavilion, Mark Taper Fourm and Ahmanson Theater, Los Angeles, CA, 1964
• Ford Pavilion (destroyed), New York City, NY, 1964
• General Electric Pavilion (destroyed), New York City, NY, 1964
• Mutual Savings and Loan Building, Pasadena, CA, 1964
• Pauley Pavilion at UCLA (officially the Edwin W. Pauley Pavilion), Los Angeles, CA, 1965
• Santa Monica Shores Apartments, Santa Monica CA, 1967
• Gulf Life Tower (now known as the Riverplace Tower), Jacksonville, FL, 1967
• Xerox Tower, Rochester, New York, 1967
• Fashion Island, Newport Beach, CA, 1967 (with William Pereira)
• La Habra Fashion Square, La Habra, CA, 1968 (Welton Becket and Associates)
• City Hall, Pomona, CA, Project Designer Marvin Taff, 1969
• Equitable Life Building, Los Angeles, 1969
• McKession Plaza, San Francisco, CA, 1969
• One California, San Francisco, CA, 1969
• Park Plaza Shopping Center, Oshkosh, WI, 1969
• 800 Wilshire, Los Angeles, CA, 1970
• Park Plaza Mall, Oshkosh, WI, 1970, now City Center a commercial business center for Oshkosh.
• PNC Plaza (formerly the Citizens Fidelity Plaza), Louisville, KY, 1971
• Beverly Wilshire Hotel expansion, Beverly Hills, CA, 1971[9]
• Disney's Contemporary Resort, Lake Buena Vista, FL, 1971
• Worcester Center, Worcester, MA, 1971
• Chase Tower (formerly the Bank One Center and Valley Bank Center), Phoenix, AZ, Project Designer MacDonald Becket, 1972
• Grand Ole Opry House, Nashville, TN, 1972
• Hyatt Regency, Knoxville, TN, 1972
• Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, New York, 1972
• One Market Plaza, San Francisco, CA, 1972
• Union Bank Building, San Francisco, CA, 1972
• One PNC Plaza, Pittsburgh, PA, 1972
• Regions Center (formerly the AmSouth Center, AmSouth-Sonat Tower, and First National-Southern Natural Building), Birmingham, AL, 1972
• Brady Sullivan Plaza, (formerly Hampshire Plaza), Manchester, N.H., 1973
• Glendale Central Library, Glendale, CA, Project Designer, Marvin Taff, 1973
• 100 Summer Street, Boston, MA, 1974
• Intourist Hotel, Moscow, Russia, 1976
• Reunion Tower, Dallas, TX, 1978
• Hyatt Regency Hotel, Dallas, TX, 1978
• Hyatt Regency Hotel, Washington, D. C. 1978
• Hyatt Regency Hotel, Louisville, KY, 1978
• One Tampa City Center (formerly the GTE Building) Tampa, FL, 1981

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Welton Becket.

Becket's Cinerama Dome, with Shrek 2 decorations.

• Oral history — Perkins quote (pg. 75)
• Bigfloridacountry.com: Video clip of construction of the Contemporary Resort
• Bigfloridacountry.com: Contemporary Pictures
• MacDonald Becket papers, Welton Becket and Associates, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession No. 2012.M.43
• Welton Becket architectural drawings and photographs, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession No. 2010.M.83
• Welton Becket at Find a Grave