The Berkley Square Housing Project, opened in 1953 in Las Vegas, Nevada, was a historically significant project for African Americans because of its unique design and financing. Berkley Square is named after its primary financier, Thomas Lucius Berkley, of Oakland, California, a prominent civil rights advocate. Berkley was born on August 9, 1915, in DuQuoin, Illinois, and reared in the Imperial Valley, California, by a coal miner and labor union organizer father and a mother who taught in the public school system.
The project, also known as Westside Park, was the first post-World War II subdivision of 148 two-bedroom one-story ranch style homes built specifically for African Americans. Designed by Paul Revere Williams, the first African American architect to become a member of the American Institute of Architects, was also well known in the Los Angeles and Palm Spring areas for numerous homes and prominent buildings. By that point Williams, probably the most prominent Black architect in the U.S., had authored two books, Small Home of Tomorrow in 1945 and the following year in 1946, he penned New Homes for Today.
Drawing on more than 20 years of experience as an architect, Williams made sure that the Berkley Square homes, with their unique design elements such as open carport, extra storage space, simple landscaping, and large backyards, would be attractive to potential Black customers. They were located on Las Vegas’s West Side between Byrnes Avenue, D Street, Leonard Avenue, and G Street.
Driven by the tastes and desires of African American veterans who were to be the main customers for these middle-class homes, the Berkley Square Housing Project emerged as a major part of the solution to the chronic housing shortage for African Americans in Las Vegas. The African American population had grown significantly, from 150 in the 1930s to well over 3,000 by the time Berkley and Williams collaborated. Many of these homes were purchased by veterans who used the new federal G.I. Bill to finance home ownership. Unfortunately, banks and realtors often prevented Black veterans in other parts of the country from using the G.I. Bill for home purchase but given the major involvement of Berkley and Williams, this proved not to be an issue with the Berkley Square Project.
Many other African American families also purchased homes in the development including doctors, casino workers, retail employees, and civil rights advocates, all of whom played a crucial role in the development and success of the project.
Dr. Paul Revere Williams, an Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. member, who designed more than 3,000 structures over his career, died on January 23, 1980, at the age of 85 in Los Angeles, California. Thomas Lucius Berkley, co-founder of the West Coast Black Publishers Association and the first Black person to serve as a Port of Oakland commissioner, died on December 27, 2001, in Oakland, California, at 86.
Many of the Berkley Square homes are still in the families of the original owners. Some of the homes have been renovated but others remain intact. In 2009 the Berkley Square Housing Project was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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“African Americans in Las Vegas,” https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/lasvegas-african-americans/; Courtney Mooney, “Rediscovering a Las Vegas Neighborhood’s African American Roots,” https://www.preservationplans.com/pdfs/Rediscovering%20a%20Las%20Vegas%20Neighborhood’s%20African%20American%20Roots.pdf; “Learn the real history of legendary Las Vegas,” https://www.classiclasvegas.com/clv-history-blog/2009/11/23/more-info-on-berkley-square-in-west-las-vegas.html.
