You know how, sometimes, the most innocuous magazine article can make you so salty?  Take for example, the February issue of In Style – the one with the gorgeous cover of Halle Berry looking like the most beautiful pregnant woman ever.  In this issue, there's an article on Jennie Garth (of Beverly Hills 90210 fame) and her husband, Peter Facinelli (who, not for nothing, did his thing in season one of the fabulous FX series "Damages".)  The couple, along with their three daughters, live in a 9500 square foot house designed by legendary African-American architect, Paul R. Williams.

Full disclosure.  I'm something of a Paul R. Williams fanatic.  What can I say? I'm crazy about preternaturally handsome race men of bygone eras (look for future mash posts about Roberto Clemente and Paul Robeson.)  It's something like Prince's obsession with busty, ethnically ambiguous girls with made up names; ground-breaking, good-looking race men are just my thing.

Williams was, in every way, shape and form, the real deal. The first black member of the AIA (American Institute of Architects), he devised a method of sketching upside down as to not offend his white customers by standing too close to them.  In 1920, when lynching was still a danger for any black man who was considered too successful, Williams served on the first Los Angeles planning commission.  As Williams so famously put it, "If I allow the fact that I am a Negro to checkmate my will now, I will inevitably form the habit of being defeated." On the contrary, William became Hollywood's go-to architect and designed homes for everyone from CBS founder William Paley to Frank Sinatra to Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball.

But back to this month's In Style, Ms. Garth disparages said house (do you have any idea how big 9500 square feet actually is? Did you know Williams houses were known for their signature white pillars, black shutters and sweeping staircases?) Garth says while the Williams house is a "little gem," she's looking forward to trading up.  Even her husband seems to think his wife's comments are nuts. In the article he says, "Jennie is always changing something.  The next thing, she keeps saying, is she wants us to build our dream house. And I say, "Well, what is this?"

My question is, since I have wanted to live in a Paul R. Williams house my ENTIRE life, when Jennie Garth builds her "dream house," will she give me hers so I can have my dream house too?

For more information about the genius of architect Paul R. Williams, check out this beautiful coffee table book by his grand-daughter, Karen E. Hudson. It's out of print, but so worth buying a used copy from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Paul-Williams-Architect-Karen-Hudson/dp/0847822427/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203104705&sr=8-1
 

Veronica Chambers is a journalist, editor and author of several books including The Joy of Doing Things Badly: A Girls's Gude to Love, Life and Foolish Bravery and Having it All? Black Women and Success.