The highly regarded and widely published work of Paul Hayden Kirk (BArch UW 1937) established the image and reputation of Northwest architecture, illustrated in some sixty articles in national architectural journals between 1945 and 1970.

After receiving his degree from the University of Washington, Paul Kirk established his own firm in 1939. In wartime association as Stuart, Kirk & Durham, Associated Architects, later as Chiarelli & Kirk, and in his partnership beginning in 1960 with Kirk, Wallace, McKinley & Associates, he produced notable projects, many of them decorated by AIA Seattle Honor Awards among other recognition. Notable projects include the UW Faculty Club (with Victor Steinbrueck), the University Unitarian Church, the Frank Gilbert residence at The Highlands, Intiman Playhouse, Magnolia Branch Library, Meany Hall and Odegaard Library on Red Square as well as Haggett Hall and Balmer Hall on the University of Washington campus, and the Japanese Presbyterian Church, recipient of a national AIA Merit Award in 1965.

Made a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1959, Paul Kirk received the AIA Seattle Medal in 1984 - along with Paul Thiry, the first accorded this highest honor by his fellow architects.