Design Webb

Architect Clyde Webb reflects on his career and role in building one of the most successful local firms in Louisiana, Architecture Plus

ARTICLE BY KAY RECTOR | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KELLY MOORE CLARK

Over the course of his distinguished career, architect Clyde Webb designed and helped bring to fruition hundreds of commercial developments all over the United States. Specializing in upscale retail venues, Webb used his considerable talent and significant contacts to build an architectural firm with a nationwide reputation for excellence.

Webb, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday, reflects on his career and his role in building the successful local firm that is now Architecture Plus. Webb attributes much of his success to good fortune and opportunity. “I was lucky to make the acquaintance of some fine people who allowed me to make a very good living doing something I enjoyed,” says Webb.

Webb grew up in West Monroe and attended Ouachita Parish High School. His father worked in the engineering department at the paper mill in West Monroe and, in his spare time, drafted home plans for co-workers and friends. As a high school student, Webb started drawing house plans with his father. A talented draftsman, Webb quickly developed a client following and his hobby became a business.

In 1947, Webb graduated from high school and attended Louisiana Tech where he played baseball. After his freshman season, he left school to join the Natchez Indians, a professional baseball team in the Cotton States League. While playing college and professional baseball, Webb continued drafting and selling house plans.

Webb’s baseball career ended as the Korean War broke out and he joined the U.S. Coast Guard. He completed boot camp in New Jersey and then went to Connecticut to learn electronics. Six months later, he was transferred to a base in Seattle, where he met up with a friend and fellow Coast Guard member. Both were awaiting transfers–Webb was being sent to Alaska and his friend had orders to go to Hawaii. Envious of Webb’s assignment, his friend really wanted to see Alaska. To Webb, Hawaii seemed a much better assignment. Coast Guard officers allowed them to trade, and Webb ended up in Hawaii. After a short stay there, he was sent overseas to the Phillipines.

Along with 14 other men, Webb was assigned to a navigation facility along the South China Sea. Each of the men was required to stand watch for hours at a time. Webb says it was often boring detail, so he asked his Skipper if he could read to pass the time. With permission granted, Webb started reading. “I read everything on the base,” Webb says. “The encyclopedias once, the Bible a couple of times, and whatever else I could find.” Webb wrote to Louisiana Tech and asked his professors to send a reading list for his classes for all four years. He gave the list to the American Red Cross, and they arranged for all of the books to be sent to him in the Phillipines.

In addition to textbooks, Webb studied classic literature. While on leave for “R & R” in Manila, Webb found University of the Phillipines’ bookstore and loaded up on Greek literature, including The Iliad and The Odyssey. Webb says he owes his liberal arts education to the Coast Guard and the Korean War.

Webb’s tour of duty with the Coast Guard ended after three years. He returned to Monroe and began thinking seriously about his future. Deciding he wanted to become an architect, he applied and was accepted to the School of Architecture at the University of Texas in Austin.

Before reporting for duty with the Coast Guard, Webb had met Ellen Brown, a student at Northeast Louisiana State College in Monroe. When Webb came home from the Phillipines, the two became reacquainted and began dating. They were soon talking about marriage, but Webb worried that his plans for architecture school would get in the way. “I told Ellen I have no job, no money, and I’ve got five years of school ahead of me,” Webb recalls. “She said ‘that’s alright, we can make it.’”

So, in 1955 they got married and moved to Austin, Texas. Ellen landed a job as secretary to the Mayor of Austin, thanks in part to a recommendation from Monroe City Manager Jim Williams, for whom Ellen had worked for several years. She assisted the Mayor at City Hall downtown while Webb went to class, studied and learned his craft.

Two of the couple’s three children were born in Austin while Webb was finishing up his studies and working for an Austin-based architectural firm. Webb worked full-time with the architecture firm of Jessen, Jessen, Millhouse & Greeven after graduation before becoming eligible to sit for the architectural licensing exam. Because he was still domiciled in Louisiana, Webb took the licensing exam in Baton Rouge and passed it on his first try.

Webb and his family returned to Ouachita Parish in 1962 at the urging of Roy Johns and Jack Neel, local architects who had just landed a contract to design the city’s new civic center. Webb accepted their job offer and began work on the Monroe Civic Center, a project that consumed almost a year of his time as a young architect with Johns & Neel.

Webb was an associate at Johns & Neel when he met fellow architect and colleague Lon Heuer. At that time, Heuer was a partner with the architectural firm of Rivers & Heuer, located across the street on Stubbs Avenue. Eventually the two firms joined forces, merging to create Heuer, Johns, Neel, Rivers & Webb.

Working with Heuer, Webb began concentrating on larger commercial projects, particularly the newly conceptualized shopping malls and department stores gaining popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Webb continued in this direction, following a path that would take him far beyond North Louisiana.

“Lon was the start of all this,” insists Webb, crediting Heuer with launching what would become for Webb a rewarding and lucrative career in commercial architecture. Since before their merger, Heuer had been working in retail design and was responsible for generating business for the newly created firm. Heuer was fortunate enough to meet and work with key developers, including businessman Melvin Simon, founder of the largest shopping mall company in the United States. Webb describes Heuer as hard-working, driven and adept at attracting clients.

“Lon could sell anything,” Webb says, but adds that Heuer was often too optimistic about their timeframes, making promises that were difficult to keep. “I was in charge of production and Lon was marketing,” Webb recalls. “He would go out and meet with people, and then come back and tell me to get something out by this date. I would tell Lon there’s no way we can do that.”

Although he shared Heuer’s enthusiasm for the projects, Webb was more practical when it came to deadlines. “I decided the best thing I could do was go out on the road with him,” Webb remembers. He began traveling with Heuer, meeting with store owners, developers and contractors whose business they were soliciting. Webb’s decision to join his partner on marketing trips proved fortuitous.

Less than a year after Webb began accompanying him on these trips, Lon Heuer died from a brain tumor at the age of 51. Heuer’s death brought many challenges for the firm he left behind. Fortunately, though, Webb had met all of their clients, including William Dillard, founder of the Dillard’s department store chain. Because of Heuer’s introductions, the firm was able to maintain those client relationships and move forward with the plans Heuer had laid.

Meeting William Dillard proved to be a turning point in Webb’s career. Webb became Dillard’s primary architect, and for three decades, Webb and his firm designed all of the Dillard’s department stores constructed in the U.S. Over time, Webb’s working relationship with Dillard led to a close friendship with him and his family. “Bill was fun to work with,” says Webb. “Mr. and Mrs. Dillard were very good to us.”

At a time when shopping malls anchored by large department stores were being built in suburbs throughout the country, merchants like Dillard expanded rapidly, taking advantage of the opportunity to reach shoppers in these growing markets. While he is unsure of the exact number, Webb estimates he designed 320 Dillard’s stores over the course of his career. Following William Dillard’s death in 2002, Webb continued to serve as chief architect for Dillard’s Department Stores, Inc.

Michael Price, former Vice President of Store Planning and Construction for Dillard’s, once described Webb as having a “sixth sense” for business. He commends Webb for his “ability to analyze the task at hand, efficiently communicate both verbally and visually the needs of the Dillard’s store to all involved and then coordinate with the Dillard’s team in achieving a solution within the framework of the schedule.”

Webb and his team also created new stores and redesigned existing spaces for other large retail chains, including J.C. Penney’s, Sears, D.H. Holmes and Selber’s. The firm earned a reputation as the leading shopping mall and retail store designer in the nation.

“I was always looking for new ways of doing things,” Webb says. He describes all of the changes in technology he experienced, from working with T-squares, then computing calculators and ultimately computers. Webb remembers the firm getting its first computer in 1983. “We bought an Intergraph mainframe computer and four workstations for $830,000.00,” Webb recalls. “I had a hard time convincing Jack Neel, who was our financial manager, we really needed this thing, but we got it.” The computer measured six feet wide and three feet deep, and was so large that they had to hoist it through a third story window to move it into their offices.

“We worked shift work, night and day, using the computer,” Webb says. “The computer made everything faster and easier. You could pass from design to production with no lost motion.” The firm opened a branch office in Dallas, and with the newly purchased computer system they were able to send plans and information between their offices and back and forth to Dillard and his contractors with ease.

The firm, which changed its name to Architecture Plus in the 1980s, continued to grow. At one point, Architecture Plus was the largest architecture firm in the State of Louisiana. Webb says that during those busy years he “kept one foot in the road” as he traveled the country, spearheading projects.

Locally, Webb and his colleagues planned the renovation of the former Monroe Hardware Company building into what is now Washington Plaza in downtown Monroe. When it was completed, the firm moved its offices into the top floor. Now headed up by architect Joe Cassiere, Architecture Plus is still located in Washington Plaza, and remains a leader in its field.

In 2008, Webb was awarded the Kitty Degree Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award in Business for his outstanding contribution to the business community and accomplishments as a business leader. In recommending him for this prestigious award, Dillard’s Vice President Michael Price described Webb as a man who exemplifies excellence in business and possesses innovative abilities, good judgment, energy and integrity. Price noted that Webb is “well respected and trusted not only in the Dillard’s community but in the retail industry throughout the United States.”

Fellow architect Richard C. Thevenot, who served as Executive Director of the Louisiana Chapter of the American Institute of Architects for 37 years, also highly recommended Webb for the Kitty Degree Foundation Award. Based on his many years of professional association with Webb, Thevenot found that “Clyde had an unusual ability to manage big projects and multiple teams of architects.” He praised Webb for his progressive attitude, saying “Clyde Webb and the firm he successfully built and led for many years encouraged many business and professional owners to expand their vision beyond their home base.”

Webb retired from Architecture Plus in 2009, but until a few years ago still collaborated on projects occasionally. At home in Monroe full time now, Webb can see his work all around him, manifested in unique structures like the Monroe Civic Center, Washington Plaza, and the Black Bayou National Wildlife Refuge facilities. Many fine homes he helped create still grace local neighborhoods. Webb doesn’t travel much anymore, but his memory is sharp. He can recall far away cities and towns with buildings that were once just ideas in his head. He remembers his “glory days,” when he and his partners were leaders in a rapidly changing industry. He doesn’t move that fast anymore, but is enjoying his retirement and memories of a job well done.