Roland Coate

Roland Coate, Sr. was a well-known American architect in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. He was educated at Earlham College and Cornell University. In 1919 he moved to Los Angeles and became a partner in an architectural firm before opening his own studio six years later. He became a fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1937. His main projects were the headquarters of the Automobile Club of Southern California in Los Angeles, the Hale Solar Laboratory on the campus of the California Institute of Technology, and homes for Hollywood Celebrities Jack Warner, David O. Selznick, and Howard Hughes, as well as a number of churches in the greater Los Angeles area, including St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in Los Angeles and St. Philip the Apostle Catholic Church in Pasadena. Several of his designs have been included in the National Register of Historic Places. His son Roland Jr. is an important residential architect of the “Los Angeles 12”.

David O. Selznick’s two-story house, built by Roland Coate in 1934 on the Summit Drive in Beverly Hills in the Colonial Revival style, included tennis courts, a tennis house and a swimming pool. In 1950, the house was substantially rebuilt and the former tennis house is now part of the neighboring house.