William Adair Bernoudy Architect

Lavishly illustrated with more than 280 stunning photographs and 29 floor plans, William Adair Bernoudy, Architect is an elegant exploration of the work of William Adair Bernoudy. A leading advocate of Frank Lloyd Wright's modern organic architecture, Bernoudy (1910-1988) was a widely admired St. Louis architect. Best known for his skill in designing houses that harmonized with the local environment and terrain, he was the creator of more than one hundred new structures, including the Pulitzer pool and pavilion, the Guthrie house, the Williams villa, as well as Bernoudy's own house. He was also well known for his renovations and additions to existing structures and for his landscape designs.

Frank Lloyd Wright influenced twentieth-century architecture more than any other architect, and William Bernoudy felt fortunate to be among the forty charter apprentices in the Taliesin Fellowship that Wright opened in 1932. Bernoudy trained under Wright for three years. He then spent several years doing various jobs before teaming up with architect Edouard Mutrux in 1938 and beginning his fifty-year architectural career.

Although there is no question that Wright left an indelible mark on Bernoudy's architectural career, Bernoudy's work has considerable merit on its own. As Gyo Obata states in the Foreword, "Bernoudy was a warm, sensitive person who listened to his client's needs. He created architecture, therefore, that fulfilled those needs aesthetically as well as emotionally." To fully appreciate Bernoudy's work, however, one must understand how his life and architecture were intertwined, and this important book elicits that understanding. Bernoudy's wife, Gertrude, a very talented and avid art collector, played a vital role in Bernoudy's life and career. Together they had an immense influence on the cultural life of St. Louis, and William Adair Bernoudy, Architect provides valuable insight into the community to which they devoted their lives.

William Adair Bernoudy played a vital role in the architecture of St. Louis and the surrounding area, and his work constitutes a significant contribution to the history of modern architecture. His legacy will be long evident in the structures he designed and in the example he provided to other, younger architects.