Welton Becket (1902–1969) was an American modernist architect who designed many buildings in Los Angeles and built one of the largest architecture offices in the world. Born in Seattle, he studied at the University of Washington and in 1933 moved to Los Angeles, where his partnership's first major commission was the Pan-Pacific Auditorium (1935). With his partner Walter Wurdeman he developed the idea of "total design", in which the firm handled everything from master plan and engineering to interiors, furniture and signs. After Wurdeman's death in 1949 he led Welton Becket and Associates.
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Parker Center in Los Angeles (1955), the police headquarters, has since been demolished. The Capitol Records Building in Hollywood (1956), designed by Louis Naidorf in Becket's office, is considered the world's first circular office building and looks like a stack of records on a turntable. In 1958 came the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and the 27-storey Hotel Habana Libre (former Habana Hilton) in Havana, which Fidel Castro used as his residence in 1959. His firm continued after his death and designed Reunion Tower in Dallas (1978), topped by a geodesic sphere.
Parker Center1955 · Los Angeles
Hotel Habana Libre (former Habana Hilton)1958 · Havana
Reunion Tower1978 · Dallas
Capitol Records Building1956 · Los Angeles
Santa Monica Civic Auditorium1958 · Santa Monica