Local theater designer dies Local theater designer dies (November 19, 2004)

Architectural consultant worked on MV stages

By Huong C. Pham

Paul Landry, who helped design the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts and the Mountain View and Los Altos High School theaters, died Oct. 30 from Alzheimer's disease. He was 82.

Landry earned his undergraduate degree at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1949 and received his graduate degree at the Carnegie Institute of Technology a few years later. He began consulting on theater design and construction in the early 1960s while he was an associate professor of drama at Stanford.

In 1965, he founded his firm, Landry & Bogan Theatre Consultants, moving it from Palo Alto to Mountain View in 1989. The firm's current location is in a storefront on Evelyn Avenue.

"He was in drama and theater his whole life," said Heather McAvoy, a principal consultant at his firm.

Landry shared his passion for the theater with other three partners: architect Jack Bogan, general consultant Rose Steele and McAvoy who designs lighting systems. Together the four worked on more than 160 projects, resulting in more than 50 constructed or renovated performance spaces.

Landry's legacy is in the projects he left behind, including the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts and the Mountain View and Los Altos High School theaters. His final project before he retired in 2002 was the New Theatre at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Ore.

McAvoy said Landry was a mentor to her and Steele, and remembered his passion for downtown Mountain View.

"He loved downtown because he loved to eat at all the different restaurants," McAvoy said. "He was a regular at the restaurants and would always receive special treatment."

Landry was surrounded by his family at the time of his death. He is survived by his wife Margaret Landry; daughters Meagan Landry of Carpinteria, and Elissa Rufo, of Illinois; and two granddaughters.

A private memorial will be held Dec. 1.

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