Theatre Architects

Born: 1873 (Albany, New York)

Died: 1955 (Los Angeles, California)

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

Woollett was born in Albany, New York to William M. and Sarah Louise Woollett (née Knappen). His father died when he was seven years old.

Around 1892, Woollett studied architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He apprenticed as a draftsman for Fehmer & Page, Architects, Boston, MA (1892-1896).

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.

Theatres which Woollett designed include the Rialto Theatre on Broadway (now adaptively used as an Urban Outfitters store), Grauman’s Metropolitan Theatre, and the Million Dollar Theatre.

Theatres on this website in which this architect was involved:

Million Dollar Theatre, Los Angeles, California, USA

(theatre)