Sunlit Arches

Architecture tells the story of a place. In Florida, where rapid growth often erases old buildings before their stories can be told, much of that history has disappeared. One man who helped shape South Florida’s landscape was William Manly King Jr., an architect whose career spanned the land boom of the 1920s, the Great Depression, and the transformations of the postwar years.

King designed schools, churches, residences, hospitals, and civic buildings-structures that reflected the needs and ideals of their communities. Though overlooked for decades, his body of work defined the look of South Florida for generations.

Historian Janet Naughton brings King’s story to light in the first comprehensive study of his career. Blending architectural history with vivid community stories, she reveals the legacy of a man whose designs gave form to modern Florida.