William Lee Woollett


William Lee Woollett was an American architect practicing mainly in California. He designed theaters in Los Angeles in the 1920s including the largest movie theater ever built in Los Angeles, Grauman's Metropolitan Theatre which opened in 1923.

Life and career

Early Life

William Lee Woollett was born in Albany, New York on November 13, 1873 to William M. and Sarah Louise Woollett. His father died when he was seven years old.

Education

Around 1892, Woollett studied architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He apprenticed as a draftsman for Fehmer and Page, Architects, Boston, MA.

Early Career

Woollett returned to Albany in 1896 to open his office. He was joined a few years later by his younger brother, John Woodward Woollett, also an architect. Together, they founded the firm, Woollett and Woollett Architects becoming the 3rd consecutive generation of Woolletts to practice architecture in Albany. After the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, Woollett and Woollett opened a branch office in San Francisco. William Woollett moved his family to Berkeley in 1908 and closed the Albany office. Woollett and Woollett was located in San Francisco until 1917 when William Lee Woollett relocated to Los Angeles. In 1921, the firm relocated permanently to Los Angeles.

Later life and death

Woollett died on February 11, 1955. He is buried at Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Significant Buildings

Woollett & Woollett are responsible for a number of significant structures in California including:
William Lee Woollett's papers were given to the Architecture and Design Collection of the Art, Design and Architecture Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1981 by his son, William Lee Woollett, FAIA.