Edward Killingsworth
Edward Killingsworth FAIA (1917–2004) was an American architect known for his role in Arts & Architecture's Case Study Program in the mid-1950s. He designed Case Study House #25, The Frank House, in Naples, California, and helped shape Southern California Post-and-Beam Mid-Century Modern design. He also designed many luxury hotels around the world and much of the California State University, Long Beach campus.
Edward Killingsworth was born November 4, 1917, in Taft, California. After oil was discovered on Signal Hill in 1921, his family moved to Long Beach. He attended Woodrow Wilson Classical High School, initially dreaming of becoming a painter, but chose architecture at the University of Southern California. He earned a Bachelor of Architecture in 1940 and received the American Institute of Architects Medal for the highest academic record in his class.
His career was delayed by World War II, where he served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as an operations officer with the 654th Engineer Topographic Battalion. He earned a Bronze Star for supervising the production of more than eight million photo-maps in preparation for the Allied invasion of Europe. He met his future wife, Laura Baird, in 1939 and they married in 1943.
After the war, Killingsworth worked as an associate for Long Beach architect Kenneth S. Wing from 1946 to 1953. He was discovered in 1950 by John Entenza, creator of the Case Study Program, who invited him to participate after seeing Killingsworth’s in-laws’ house in Los Alamitos. This house became Killingsworth’s first solo project and one of Southern California’s first post-and-beam structures.
In 1953 Killingsworth partnered with Jules Brady and Waugh Smith, and together they designed four Case Study Houses in 1960 (three built and still standing, though one was greatly altered), along with the Opdahl House and several other large projects. Waugh Smith left the partnership in 1963. From 1984 until his retirement in the early 2000s, Killingsworth was a partner in Killingsworth, Stricker, Lindgren, Wilson and Associates. He designed many acclaimed projects in Long Beach, including the Opdahl House in Naples near Case Study House #25. He also built a home for his own family in the Los Cerritos neighborhood of Long Beach. For more than 40 years from 1962, he led the master plan for the CSULB campus. He designed Watt Hall, the main architecture building for the USC School of Architecture, in 1974, where he also served as an adjunct professor.
Over the years his work grew from private residences to luxury hotels in places like Hawaii, Guam, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Philosophically, he believed in open spaces, high ceilings, and glass walls that bring in nature.
Edward A. Killingsworth died on July 6, 2004, at age 86. He is entombed at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Long Beach, in the pendulum room of the mausoleum. Laura Killingsworth died on June 2, 2019, at age 95.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 19:21 (CET).