Whitney Rowland Smith

Whitney Smith was born on January 16, 1911 in Pasadena and graduated from USC in 1934 with his bachelor’s degree in architecture. After college, Smith worked as a designer for notable architects in the Los Angeles area: Lawrence Test, Harwell Hamilton Harris, Kem Weber, and William L. Pereira.

Between 1941 - 1942, Smith taught at USC where he met Wayne Williams (then a student). The two started working together in the early 1940s and by 1949 had become partners. Following the dissolution of the Smith & Williams’ practice, in 1973, both architects continued to work.

In 1942, Smith worked under William Templeton Johnson and George J. Adams in San Diego. Johnson and Adams were the “…architects in charge of planning 600 units of housing for aircraft and shipbuilders for the National Housing Agency. Smith described the housing projects in National City and Chula Vista as ‘drudgery,’ but he met architect John Lautner on the job, and they remained lifelong friends,” according to Outside in: The Architecture of Smith and Williams.

Following his return to Pasadena, Smith secured a Public Buildings Administration project, the Linda Vista Shopping Center – adjacent to the Linda Vista housing development. “In 1940, under the Lanham Defense Housing Act, the federal government had built housing for 4,000 families of war workers in the San Diego community. Linda Vista was the largest housing tract built before the attack on Pearl Harbor, but it had few amenities. The Linda Vista Shopping Center… provided much-needed services for these families and was among the first modern shopping centers built in the United States, 1943-44. Smith was the designing partner of a team that also included San Diego architect Earl Giberson and landscape architect Harold Dankworth. Smith created a central green around which he placed the stores so that each one could be seen equally well from the center and from the sheltered walkway that circled the green space. He kept the cars to the periphery of the shopping center… Smith’s description of the Linda Vista project, published in Better Homes and Gardens in January 1945, brought him national attention. He and the editors compared the open center to the “order and peace of an early village green,” in a statement that anticipates, with some emotion, the end of the war. “America needs peace not only in the wide world but on Main Street too.” Linda Vista Shopping Center was an influential design for still new typology and probably the first to explicitly link recreation – the central green – with retail.” (Outside in: The Architecture of Smith and Williams)

Partial List of Projects

Anticipation Shops (1950)
Locations in both Pasadena and San Diego

B Street Pier Waterfront Tourist Attraction (1972)
San Diego

Bandini House Restoration (1971)
Old Town State Historic Park

Carlin, Mr. Robert & Mrs. Residence (1957)
3672 Liggett Drive, Point Loma

Condominium Office Developments for Johnson and Mape Construction Company (1972)
San Diego

Jack in the Box Incorporated Restaurant and Sign (1961)
For Robert Oscar Peterson

Linda Vista Shopping Center (1942)
Linda Vista
*Designed by Whitney Smith with Earl Giberson and Harold Dankworth
*Published in Better Homes and Gardens in January 1945,

Linder Estates Tract Housing (1960)
San Diego

Lowell, Edward O. Residence (1965)
3318 Gird Road, Fallbrook

Mission Bay Development Plan (1959)
For City of San Diego, Community Facilities Planners

Mission Valley West Shopping Center (1962)
San Diego

Olivewood Housing (1942-43)
National City
*Designed for the Public Housing Works ‘near San Diego’ when Smith worked under William Templeton Johnson and George J. Adams architects; with Paul Hunter, associate architect
*Maynard Parker Photographer

Recreational Complex for Johnson and Mape Construction Company (1971)
El Cajon
*For the Sterling Recreation Organization

San Elijo Lagoon Recreational Park for City of San Diego (1973-77)
Manchester Avenue, Encinitas
*Land Use Masterplan

Victory Housing (1942-43)
Chula Vista
*Designed for the Public Housing Works ‘near San Diego’ when Smith worked under William Templeton Johnson and George J. Adams architects; with Paul Hunter, associate architect
*Maynard Parker Photographer