Encouraging news for preservationists and Paul Revere Williams fans as local news outlets are reporting that the architect's first Los Angeles home, bought under the auspices of segregation, has now officially been named a Historic-Cultural Monument by the city's Cultural Heritage Commission.

The Jefferson Park home had been listed in early September for $1.6 million, prompting several local groups to petition commissioners for the designation which now gives the body the formal ability to delay any future demolition efforts for at least a year.

Williams bought the home in 1921 and used it as his principal residence until he moved to Lafayette Park in 1952. His move-in coincided with the opening of his Hollywood Masonic Temple. Commissioner Gail Kennard said the home‘s significance had more to do with the housing covenants that essentially forced the then 27-year-old architect into the neighborhood where he resided over a prolific output that yielded some of Los Angeles' most iconic buildings.

"It's part of the story of why he had to live there — restrictive covenants — the location is all wrapped up in that. He did not design that home, he lived in that home," Commissioner Gail Kennard told Spectrum 1 Los Angeles. "The story is that he designed a lot of other homes that other people could live in that he couldn't live in. So it's very important the we preserve this cultural history."

Another Commissioner, Barry Milofsky, said a fall tour of the property revealed more layers of preservation than he had initially anticipated.

"I think once you go inside and realize that what appears to be a humble cottage on the exterior shows all the signs of Paul Revere Williams design touch, you know, the details, the totally revised new kitchen I think he did in 1938, the playroom for his daughters also served as a party room for entertaining in the yard because he'd like to entertain but didn't have that large of a yard or a house to do it,” he told the station.

Los Angeles Conservancy director Adrian Scott-Fine spoke exclusively to Archinect in order to summarize the importance of the designation, saying that, in the minds of organizers, it was "all about telling the full story of a Black man and architect, a Black family, and the experience many people faced due to discrimination and racial covenants at the time."

"This house helps us better understand Williams as a person and how he lived during the first part of his illustrious architectural career," he added. "For thirty years, while his career progressed designing beautiful homes for the rich and famous, Williams lived in a modest bungalow built and designed by someone else. This effort by the Conservancy and many supporters to designate the house as a Historic-Cultural Monument is about protecting it for the future, and allowing all of us to see and experience a place that was so fundamental to Williams’ story, and what he overcame as a Black man and architect."