Pepperdine Libraries Explores the Enduring Legacy of Pepperdine Campus Architect William Pereira Through Julius Shulman’s Photography

From January 13, to July 31, 2025, Pepperdine Libraries will present an exhibition that serves as a unique case study on architectural design through an artistic lens. Featuring more than 30 reproductions from the Getty Research Institute’s Julius Shulman Photography Archive, the exhibition, Capturing Innovation: Julius Shulman’s Photographs of William Pereira’s Architectural Designs, showcases the work of acclaimed architect William Pereira, the designer of Pepperdine’s Malibu campus’ master plan and its early buildings.
The exhibition highlights the brilliance of both artists and celebrates Los Angeles as a hub for architectural innovation. It also underscores Pereira’s pivotal role in shaping the University’s architectural identity. When viewed alongside other major projects, the collection emphasizes the enduring influence of Pereira’s visionary work, masterfully captured through Shulman’s distinctive photographic lens.
William Pereira's designs for Pepperdine's Malibu campus
“Pepperdine Libraries is dedicated to preserving history, including the history of our wonderful university,” shares Mark Roosa, dean of libraries at Pepperdine University. “This exhibition spotlights two 20th century creatives who are inextricably linked to our history. We are excited to showcase the genius of both men, and my hope is that viewers of the exhibition will walk away with a deeper appreciation of Pepperdine’s historical place in Southern California’s architectural footprint.”
Shulman was born in 1910 in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised on a farm in Connecticut. When he was 10, his family moved to Los Angeles. In the 1930s, he experienced modern architecture for the first time while visiting a Richard Neutra-designed house in the Hollywood Hills. The amateur photographer who had no formal education—aside from a handful of audited classes at the University of California, Berkeley—sent Neutra six photographs as a gift. Impressed by his talent, the architect immediately hired Shulman, thus beginning the start of a prolific career. Photographing works by the other design pioneers including Charles and Ray Eames, Pierre Koenig, and John Lautner, Shulman quickly rose through the ranks to become the preeminent architectural photographer of his day.
Los Angeles remained Shulman’s home for the rest of his life, during which he saw the city’s population grow from fewer than 600,000 to more than 12 million. His images of the experimental Case Study Houses are widely credited for bringing modernism into the mainstream, with his photograph of Koenig’s Stahl House arguably the most influential.
Julius Shulman's photo of Pepperdine's Malibu campus
Pereira was born in 1909 in Chicago. He received a degree from the University of Illinois School of Architecture before moving to Los Angeles in 1933, where he set up his first private practice. In the 1940s, he had a brief stint as a Hollywood art director, during which he even won an Academy Award for Best Special Effects. In 1949 Pereira became a professor of architecture at the University of Southern California, and shortly after, he formed a partnership with architect Charles Luckman. The pair’s firm designed some of Los Angeles’ most well-known buildings in the 1950s, including the Theme Tower at Los Angeles International Airport and the Disneyland Hotel, before parting ways and Pereira establishing his final firm, William L. Pereira & Associates.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Pereira took on his most ambitious projects, including developing master plans for Pepperdine’s Malibu campus. This later stage of his career also saw the design of several landmark buildings such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Geisel Library at the University of California, San Diego; and the Transamerica Building in San Francisco.
On Wednesday, April 16, 2025, at 4 PM in the Payson Library’s Surfboard Room, the Pepperdine community is invited to attend a panel discussion on the Libraries’ spring exhibition. The panel will be moderated by Edward Sterrett, visiting assistant professor of art history at Seaver College, featuring panelists architectural historian Alan Hess and former Getty curator Christopher James Alexander. Refreshments will be served during a reception in the Exhibit Gallery following the conversation.