Arthur R. Kelly

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Arthur Rolland Kelly (July 4, 1878 - March 25, 1959) was an American architect who specialized in residential architecture, primarily in the Los Angeles, California area. Arthur Kelly designed approximately five hundred homes and other buildings.

Born of Irish parents, who emigrated from Dublin in approximately 1876, he was born in Waterloo, Iowa. After studying architecture and recognizing an opportunity, he left Iowa and settled in Los Angeles in 1902, along with his wife Enid Harrod Kelly. Among his first jobs was working for the architectural firm of Greene and Greene in Pasadena. Within a few years, he opened his own architectural firm, initially creating homes of the Craftsman style in Hollywood and surrounding areas. William Arthur Newbery was his first associate. Among his first large commissions was the Huntington Beach High School in 1908. The Newbery association lasted only a few years and thereafter, Kelly worked independently, earning his largest commission to date, the United Verde Copper Company buildings in Jerome, Arizona. Among these buildings were worker's homes, a doctor's home, a church, hospital, hotel, school and apartments. Another important building during this period was Hollywood's first luxury hotel, The Christie Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard.

The 1920's saw a very prolific period in Kelly's career. His specialization was in homes of Spanish Colonial Revival style and Tudor Revival style. Most of his clients chose to have his designs built on lots they had purchased in Holmby Hills, Beverly Hills and San Marino, California. Kelly's associate during this period was Joe Estep. A few of Kelly's many designs included the William S. Hart Ranch in Newhall, the Arthur Letts, Jr. estate in Holmby Hills (now known as The Playboy Mansion), Beverly Hills estates for J. Crampton Anderson, John Blystone, Richard Dix, Johnny Mack Brown, and many others. During this period, Kelly also designed all the buildings for the Westlake School for Girls (now known as Harvard-Westlake School) in Bel-Air and the Wilshire Country Club in Hancock Park.

The period of the 1930's to the early 1950's saw Kelly in association with his son, Joseph Rolland Kelly, who himself, was an architect.

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