Welton Becket

Welton David Becket (August 8, 1902 – January 16, 1969) was an American modern architect who designed many buildings in Los Angeles.

Biography Becket was born in Seattle and graduated from the University of Washington program in Architecture in 1927 with a B.Arch. degree.

He moved to Los Angeles in 1933 and formed a partnership with his University of Washington classmate Walter Wurdeman and Los Angeles 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.

Their firm designed Bullock's Pasadena (1944) and several 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.

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.

Becket's buildings used unusual facade materials including 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 in Orlando, Florida. The Contemporary Resort was designed as a 14-story steel A-frame with a monorail running through the building. Modular guest rooms were assembled, finished, furnished, and fully equipped with their doors locked on the ground, then lifted by crane and inserted into the frame; however, it sometimes took multiple tries. 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 MacDonald G. Becket and his granddaughter Alexandra Becket.

Commissions

Becket's works include:

Los Angeles Pan-Pacific Auditorium, 1935 (with Walter Wurdeman) (destroyed by fire) General Petroleum Building, 1949 (with Walter Wurdeman) Fifth Street Store Building, 1952 renovation Welton Becket Residence, 1952 Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, 1953 Parker Center (formerly the Police Administration Building), 1955 (demolished) The Broadway department store (now Walmart) at Panorama City Shopping Center, 1955 Capitol Records Building, project designer Lou Naidorf, 1956 Ace Hotel Los Angeles (formerly the Texaco Building) on Wilshire Boulevard, 1957 Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, 1959 (demolished) Los Angeles Customs House and Federal Office Building, 1960 (with Albert C. Martin and Paul R. Williams) Airport Marina Hotel, 1961-2 (now Hotel June) Petersen Automotive Museum (formerly a Seibu and Ohrbach's department store), 1962 Los Angeles International Airport interiors, 1962 McCulloch Building (now Homewood Suites by Hilton LAX), 1962 Reunion Tower, Dallas, 1978 Hyatt Regency Hotel, Dallas, 1978 Hyatt Regency Hotel, Washington, D.C., 1978 Hyatt Regency Hotel, Louisville, 1978 US Bank Plaza, Boise, Idaho, 1978 BNY Mellon Center, Pittsburgh, 1980 Motorola Communications Group Building, Schaumburg, IL, 1980 One Tampa City Center (formerly the GTE Building) Tampa, Florida, 1981 Stanton Tower, El Paso, Texas, 1981 OneOK Plaza, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1984 (with HKS, Inc.) First Bank and Trust Tower, New Orleans, 1987

International Manila Jai Alai Building, Manila, Philippines, 1939 (with Walter Wurdeman), (demolished) Hotel Tryp Habana Libre (formerly the Habana Hilton), Havana, Cuba, 1958 The Nile Ritz-Carlton, Cairo (formerly the Nile Hilton), Cairo, Egypt, 1959 (with Mahmoud Riad) Southern Cross Hotel, Melbourne, Australia, 1962 (demolished 2003) U.S. Embassy, Warsaw, Poland, 1963 Intourist Hotel, Moscow, 1976