Williamson was born on May 2, 1893, in
Royal Center, Indiana, and he grew up near
Princeton, Kansas. He graduated from the
Kansas State University and the
School of the Art Institute of Chicago. When Wright left for Japan to work on the
Imperial Hotel, Williamson was made construction supervisor for the
Frederick C. Bogk House and the Munkwitz Apartments in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. From 1914 to 1917, Williamson was tasked by Wright with applying standards to Wright's
American System-Built Homes (ASBH) concept, though like Wright, he did not talk about the ASBH program after it ended. After leaving Wright's studio in 1917, he returned to
Kansas City, Missouri briefly, and then moved back to
Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1918 to apply for his Wisconsin license to practice and to work closely with the developer Arthur Richards, Wright's former partner in the ASBH project. Between 1918 and 1929 Williamson designed about forty Wisconsin homes and duplexes in the
Prairie Style, as well as the Tudor and
Mediterranean Revival styles, many sold via Richard's real estate companies in Milwaukee suburbs like
Shorewood, Wisconsin and
Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Some homes, like the Anthony Siegl House (1920) in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, feature details like trim, windows and surfaces that were repurposed from Richard's leftover stock after the termination of the
American System Built Homes project in 1917. In a second productive period from about 1950 to 1960, Williamson designed commercial and apartment buildings and split-level and ranch homes leaning to the
Mid-Century Modern style. Williamson married Nola Mae Hawthorne, and they had a son and a daughter. ==References==