William J. Dodd

Who was William J. Dodd?

William J. Dodd was a Canadian-born American architect and designer who worked mainly in Louisville, Kentucky from 1886 to 1912 and in Los Angeles, California from 1912 until his death. Dodd rose from the so-called Chicago School of architecture, engineering and design innovations of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His design work included architecture, functional and decorative architectural glass and ceramics, furniture, home appliances, and literary illustration.

In a fruitful career which lasted more than forty years, Dodd left many extant structures, among the best known of these being the original Presbyterian Seminary campus, the Weissinger-Gaulbert Apartments, and the old YMCA building, all three on Broadway in downtown Louisville. Also in Louisville are the Seelbach Hotel and the Western Branch of the Free Public Library. In California, examples of his work include the Pacific Center and Hearst's Los Angeles Herald-Examiner Building in downtown Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Mission Auditorium south of Pasadena.