Commercial Works

“You can’t sell to a blur.”

The strategy for commercial buildings, especially for retail businesses, is to catch the eye of the passing, potential customer and make him slow down. Smith and Williams’s small buildings in downtown Pasadena used pedestrian-scale gestures to attract attention; larger buildings on the highway needed more spectacular effects. 

In downtown Pasadena, the Friend Paper Company and the Van Vechten Cleaners are appealing examples that use transparency and memorable formal gestures to pull in the customer.

The placement of the car wash on a busy main thoroughfare, Colorado Boulevard, in Pasadena, meant that the purpose and design of the building had to speak to the customer from the busy roadway. 

The colorful glass block facade of the Microdot Incorporated office complex in South Pasadena was designed to catch the eye from the road and promote the company's product-- computer punch cards.

Smith and Williams designed multiple United Automobile Workers buildings for the Union in Los Angeles, Canoga Park, Downey, and Anaheim. The buildings, made with steel, glass, and concrete, still retain some of the stylistic marking of Smith and Williams, with an accent on open spaces and indoor / outdoor meeting areas.

Grocery Stores

In the Crawford's Country Market, a roof made of metal lath easily defines the space of the market and encompasses all its activities and products, allowing an interior space that is open and flexible. This particular design is unbuilt.

Smith and Williams designed a number of schemes for Ralphs grocery stores, a Southern California-based company founded in 1873. In each of the schemes, the architects designed a distinctive frame for the facade that faces the parking lot.