William (Bill) Moyle Browning
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Photograph via firm booklet1
Photograph via form titled “Principals”2
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Table of Contents
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Birth Date and Place
(Scroll to Top)b. August 7, 1931
Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America -
Universities Attended
(Scroll to Top)Bachelor of Fine Arts in Architecture, University of Utah, 1957
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Architectural License
(Scroll to Top)Licensed in Utah and Nevada in 1969
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Professional Career
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Awards and Certificates
(Scroll to Top)- Scott, Louie and Browning Architects & Engineers, Merit Award for the East Elementary School from the Utah Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), 1966.4
- Scott, Louie and Browning Architects & Engineers, Merit Award for the East Elementary School from the Western Mountain Region of the AIA, 1966.5
- Scott, Louie and Browning Architects & Engineers, Honorable Mention Award for the Industrial Supply Company from the Western Mountain Region of the AIA, 1966.6
- Scott, Louie and Browning Architects & Engineers, Award for the Steiner Corporation Office Building and published in Architecture/West, April 1969.7
- William Browning, Lifetime Achievement Award from the AIA, 2007.8
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Publications
(Scroll to Top)- East Elementary School in Tooele, Utah, of which Mr. Browning was the project’s designer, was mentioned in the following publications:9
- “The Architectural Record,” March 1967.
- Architekture and Wohnform, November 1967.
- “The Architectural Review, London,” January 1970.
- “Forty Years of American Architecture,” in The Architectural Record, April 1977.
- East Elementary School in Tooele, Utah, of which Mr. Browning was the project’s designer, was mentioned in the following publications:9
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Significant Contributions
(Scroll to Top)- United States Geology Survey, 1950-1954.10
- Sergeant, United States Army, 1952.11
- Lecturer, Department of Architecture, University of Utah, 1962-1963.
- Chairman of the Publications Committee, Utah Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), 1964-1966.12
- President, Soaring Society of Utah, 1970.
- Chairman, Regional Awards Committee for the AIA, 1980.
- Editor, Utah Architect, 1963-1964.13
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Significant Buildings w/ Location
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Wilde Wood Tower
515 East 100 South, Salt Lake City, Utah 84102
Completed 1981
Building Type: Office Buildings - Retail on the Ground Floor
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Fifth Judicial Circuit Courts
Salt Lake City, Utah
1980
Building Type: Governmental - Courthouses, Post Offices,etc.
Click here for more information »
Brickyard Condominiums
1120 East Brickyard Road, Salt Lake City, Utah 84106
1978
Building Type: Residential
Click here for more information »
Valley Bank and Trust Company, West Jordan Branch
West Jordan, Utah
1976
Building Type: Financial - Offices Above
Click here for more information »
Bingham High School
2160 West 10400 South, South Jordan, Utah 84095
1975
Building Type: Educational - Elementary/Secondary
Click here for more information »
Utah Farm Bureau Building (currently Memorial Mortuaries & Cemetaries)
5300 South 360 West, Murray, Utah 84123
1975
Building Type: Commercial/Warehouse
Click here for more information »
Student Union Building, Utah Technical College, Salt Lake Campus
Granger, Utah
1974
Building Type: University
Click here for more information »
The J.C. Penney Building (currently Zions Bank Broadway Office)
310 South Main Street, Salt Lake City, Utah 84101
1973
Building Type: Financial - Offices Above
Click here for more information »
State Savings and Loan, Murray Branch
Murray, Utah
1972
Building Type: Financial - Offices Above
Click here for more information »
Canyon View Elementary School
3050 East 7800 South, Cottonwood Heights, Utah 84121
1971
Building Type: Educational - Elementary/Secondary
Click here for more information »
Steiner Corporation Headquarters (also known as Steiner American Building and ALSCO Inc.)
505 East South Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah 84102
1968
Building Type: Office Buildings - Retail on the Ground Floor
Click here for more information »
East Elementary School
135 South 7th Street, Tooele, Utah 84074
1966
Building Type: Educational - Elementary/Secondary
Click here for more information »
Industrial Supply Company
Salt Lake City, Utah
1964
Building Type: Commercial/Warehouse
Click here for more information »
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Biography
(Scroll to Top)William (Bill) Moyle Browning was born on August 7, 1931, to parents Ally Moyle and Harold Browning in Salt Lake City, Utah. Mr. Browning was raised in Berkeley, California, but his family moved back to Utah during his youth. Mr. Browning graduated from Granite High School and attended the University of Utah in 1949. During his education, Mr. Browning considered pursuing a law degree, as many members in his family were lawyers. But then he met Roger Bailey, a professor who started the School of Architecture at the University of Utah, and he helped to convince the young Mr. Browning to change his mind and pursue architecture instead. In 1950 during his sophomore year at the University of Utah, Mr. Browning joined the army but returned shortly after and continued pursuing his architecture degree. He graduated with his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Architecture in 1956. During his last year of college, Mr. Browning started working as a draftsman for Scott and Beecher architects, where he remained until 1959.14 For a year after his employment with Scott and Beecher, Mr. Browning went to work with another prominent Utah architect, Don Panushka. During that time, the Scott and Beecher firm turned into Carl Scott, Scott and Welsh.15 Hal Beecher decided to go his own way. When Carl Scott passed away, his partners, Walt Scott and Will Louis, formed the Scott-Louie firm. Mr. Browning returned to the firm, now under the charge of Scott and Louie.
Mr. Browning worked with the firm for several years after, until 1966, he became a partner in the firm himself. The firm changed its name to Scott, Louie and Browning Architects & Engineers, where he served as the firm’s designer under the official title of “Secretary/Treasurer.” His responsibilities consisted of Architectural Design and Project Administration.16 Once Mr. Browning became a partner, the firm described itself and its approach to architecture as the following: “Scott, Louie & Browning’s reputation has been built upon design flexibility in architecture. This means that we commence each project without preconception, analyze the precise and complete program without bias, and then enlist the best qualified talent to create thoughtful design and carry the project through to completion.”17
Even though, at this point, Mr. Browning was a partner in the firm, he still had not taken the exam to receive his license. One of the requirements of the exam was to have five years experience working for an architecture firm. In 1969 Mr. Browning finally had enough experience under his belt and took the exam and passed, becoming a licensed Utah architect. At the firm, Mr. Browning honed his architectural skills on designs for commercial and institutional work that included office buildings, schools, industrial buildings, and courthouses.
In 2012, Bim Oliver conducted a series of interviews with “prominent Utah architects of the mid-twentieth century arranged and conducted by the Division of State History in order to document the emergence of modern architecture in the state through trends, influences, new materials and technologies, and education.”18 Mr. Oliver interviewed Mr. Browning in 2012 for this series. During the interview, Mr. Browning said that although there were not particular styles of architecture in Utah that he was drawn to, he was more interested in the approach to the design of the building. In the interview, Mr. Browning noted, “If someone did, for instance, a school, I would approach their solution as how well they solved the problem and if I had other opinions on an approach – not style but approach – to design. I felt very much it was necessary that I express them and found that it was not difficult to do locally.”19 Mr. Browning felt that a building was not just something you looked at, you had to consider the “business of architecture” in that a building also consists of electrical, mechanical and structural systems that are “vital to your understanding of how you are going to design a building.”20 This idea was instilled in Mr. Browning during his early years working for the firm under the direction of Carl Scott, a man he called “very creative and inventive architect.”21 Mr. Browning also stated that an architect must look at a building as the “whole package.” If one does not have any clue of what the mechanical or structural designs will be, the architect will not know anything about the building to be designed – architects should not be solely “form” designers and architects. The idea of taking into account the structural, mechanical, and air system design as a hugely significant aspect to the entire building’s design influenced not just Mr. Browning’s approach to architecture but the entire firm of Scott, Louie and Browning. Both Mr. Scott, Mr. Louie and their entire firm approached architecture in this way as well. Oftentimes, their firm would work with other mechanical and electrical firms, and if they suggested something unusual for the construction of the building, Scott, Louie and Browning worked to incorporate it into the original designs for their buildings.
Mr. Browning and the firm went on to produce highly respected works. In 1966, Scott, Louie and Browning were hired to do an elementary school in Tooele, Utah, called East Elementary School. The design for the school was based entirely off a new method of teaching that required a building with an “open” plan, or a “classless” design. The school was designed as a round building where, quite literally, it did not include any classes. The school became quite influential. It received two Merit Awards – one from the Utah Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and one from the Western Mountain Region of the AIA, both in 1966.22 The awards were based on the “excellence shown in solution of the design and construction problems posed by each building program.”23 The school was also included in the 1977 article “Forty Years of American Architecture” in the Architectural Record. This article included examples of “the best architecture of the last forty years.”24 Although the “open” plan design for the school did not catch on worldwide, the design still remained influential among architects at the time.
In his interview with Mr. Oliver, Mr. Browning remembered another one of his designs fondly, The J.C. Penney building in Salt Lake City, Utah, completed in 1973. Mr. Browning noted that the design of the building was refreshing for him because he did not have someone telling him exactly how to design the exterior of the building. Even though he had freedom in his design, he remembered having to follow more rigid rules that had to comply inside the building. He noted, “…working for J.C. Penney was an experience all by itself. Not only were you in an office of exact dimensions, it had to do with how many pictures – family pictures – you could have on a desk, etc.”25 He remembers the project fondly, though, and he stated, “It was a delightful experience.”26
Additionally, Mr. Browning always envisioned and hoped that Utah’s architecture would return to its roots in masonry construction. He said, “As I looked at the historical architecture of Utah, masonry had a huge impact on Utah architecture. And I thought, ‘What’s more natural, since we don’t have a huge skyline of big buildings? Why don’t we pursue that, because there is so much you can do with masonry in architecture?’”27 He thought that if Utah maintained its architectural heritage it would become like no other city in the United States. Unfortunately for Mr. Browning’s hopes, walls of steel and glass soon took over the architectural style of Utah. Instead, he fell in love with using reinforced concrete for some of his designs. Of these designs that used this material, he said, “I did a couple of buildings that had no brick. In fact, I was quite proud of the fact that some buildings only had two materials inside and out. And that was concrete and glass.”28 Although now no longer standing, one of his designs that used concrete and glass was the Circuit Courts in Salt Lake City.
Mr. Browning contributed to the overall practice of architecture as well as to the success of his firm. As a highly-regarded architect, he was asked to serve on a committee of architects selecting projects for a public display mounted by the Utah Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in April 1960. The committee reviewed submissions from over 25 firms and selected a range of designs including modest residences, churches, industrial structures, schools, recreational facilities, and a proposed design for the Kennecott Building.29 The exhibit was held for three weeks at the Salt Lake Art Barn. Mr. Browning was a lecturer in the Department of Architecture at the University of Utah from 1962-1963. He edited the publication Utah Architect from 1963-1964. In 1980, Mr. Browning chaired the Awards Committee organizing the design awards program for the Western Mountain Region of the American Institute of Architects.
In 1993, Mr. Browning retired from Scott, Louie and Browning Architects & Engineers.30 In 2007, Mr. Browning received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the AIA.31 He currently resides in Utah.
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Sources
(Scroll to Top)1. “General Firm/Project Information, 1984,” in folder “Marketing Files,” from the Scott, Louie, and Browning Architects Records, circa 1940s-1990s, accn 1564, box 3, folder 3, pg. 7. From the Special Collections and Archives Department at the University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.
2. “Principals” form from “Marketing Files,” from the Scott, Louie, and Browning Architects Records, circa 1940s-1990s, accn 1564, box 3, folder 3, pg. 2. From the Special Collections and Archives Department at the University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.
3. Correspondence from William W. Louie to Karl T. Haglund from July 18, 1979 in “Office Files,” from the Scott, Louie, and Browning Architects Records, circa 1940s-1990s, accn 1564, box 1, folder 1. From the Special Collections and Archives Department at the University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library, Salt Lake City, Utah; “Organization and Facilities” form from “Marketing Files,” from the Scott, Louie, and Browning Architects Records, circa 1940s-1990s, accn 1564, box 3, folder 3, pg. 1. From the Special Collections and Archives Department at the University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.
4. “Scott, Louie & Browning Design Awards” page from “Marketing Files,” from the Scott, Louie, and Browning Architects Records, circa 1940s-1990s, accn 1564, box 3, folder 3. From the Special Collections and Archives Department at the University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. “Steiner Corporation Headquarters,” form from “Marketing Files,” from the Scott, Louie, and Browning Architects Records, circa 1940s-1990s, accn 1564, box 5, folder 5, pg. 2. From the Special Collections and Archives Department at the University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.
8. Document from AIA Utah, “A Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, 2007 Awards for Excellence in Architecture,” 2007, pg. 2.
9. “East Elementary School, Tooele,” form from “Marketing Files,” from the Scott, Louie, and Browning Architects Records, circa 1940s-1990s, accn 1564, box 3, folder 3, pg. 2. From the Special Collections and Archives Department at the University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.
10. John F. Gane, editor, American Architects Directory, 3rd Edition, 1970, (New York and London: R.R. Bowker Company, 1970): 113.
11. Ibid.
12. “Principals” form from “Marketing Files,” from the Scott, Louie, and Browning Architects Records, circa 1940s-1990s, accn 1564, box 3, folder 3, pg. 2. From the Special Collections and Archives Department at the University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.
13. Firm booklet from “Marketing Files,” from the Scott, Louie, and Browning Architects Records, circa 1940s-1990s, accn 1564, box 3, folder 3, pg. 3, pg. 7. From the Special Collections and Archives Department at the University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.
14. “Organization and Facilities” form from “Marketing Files,” from the Scott, Louie, and Browning Architects Records, circa 1940s-1990s, accn 1564, box 3, folder 3, pg. 1. From the Special Collections and Archives Department at the University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.
15. Browning, William Arnold, Interviewed by Greg Thompson, 7 May, 2015, Audio recording, Everett L. Cooley Oral History Project, Special Collections and Archives, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, 7.
16. Correspondence from William W. Louie to Karl T. Haglund from July 18, 1979 in “Office Files,” from the Scott, Louie, and Browning Architects Records, circa 1940s-1990s, accn 1564, box 1, folder 1. From the Special Collections and Archives Department at the University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.
17. Firm booklet from “Marketing Files,” from the Scott, Louie, and Browning Architects Records, circa 1940s-1990s, accn 1564, box 3, folder 3, pg. 3, pg. 3. From the Special Collections and Archives Department at the University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.
18. “An Interview with Jim Christopher, Architect.” from slmodern.org, Accessed on June 2, 2016, http://www.slmodern.org/2013/06/06/an-interview-with-jim-christopher-architect/.
19. “An Interview with Bill Browning, Architect,” Interviewed by Bim Oliver on November 19th, 2012. Transcript accessed on website, http://www.slmodern.org/2013/11/01/an-interview-with-bill-browning-architect/
20. Ibid.
21. Ibid.
22. “Scott, Louie & Browning Design Awards” page from “Marketing Files,” from the Scott, Louie, and Browning Architects Records, circa 1940s-1990s, accn 1564, box 3, folder 3. From the Special Collections and Archives Department at the University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.
23. William A. Dunn, “8 Architects Win Awards of Merit,” The Deseret News, January 21, 1967. From the Utah State Historical Society Library and Collections Department, from the “Architecture” file within the “Architects” folder.
24. Firm booklet, accn 1564, box 3, folder 3, pg. 2.
25. “An Interview with Bill Browning, Architect.”
26. Ibid.
27. Ibid.
28. Ibid.
29. Author unknown, “Utah Architects Display Creations at Art Center,” Salt Lake Tribune, April 24th, 1960. From the Utah State Historical Society Library and Collections Deaprtment, from the “Architecture” file within the “Architects” folder.
30. “An Interview with Bill Browning, Architect.”
31. Document from AIA Utah, “A Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, 2007 Awards for Excellence in Architecture,” 2007, pg. 2.
32.
