Harwell Hamilton Harris was an American architect who assimilated modern European and American influences. In 1923 he moved to Los Angeles to attend the Otis Art Institute and in 1925, he began studying drawing and painting with Stanton Macdonald-Wright at the Art Students League. Harris wanted to be a sculptor, but changed his mind after visiting the Hollyhock House Frank Lloyd Wright. Soon after, he enrolled in the curriculum of architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. He never attended the program, however he found a job with Richard Neutra and RM Schindler. Neutra dissuaded him from attending formal classes in architecture, although he attended classes taught by Neutra at the Academy of Modern Art in Los Angeles. While in office Neutra, he worked on projects such as the Lovell House and Competition Rush City. During this period, Harris became familiar with the principles of the modern movement and was secretary of the American section of CIAM. In 1933, Harris left the office Neutra to establish himself in Los Angeles. His first orders were for small homes, based on modular systems, which applied modern principles he had learned at the offices of Neutra and Schindler. These first houses include house Pauline Lowe (1934) in his home in Altadena and Fellowship Park (1936) which won the competition of small houses " House Beautiful " in 1936 and established his reputation in California. Harris became the first director of the School of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin in 1951.