The Directory of African American Architects

An Honor for Robert T. Coles, FAIA

posted Sep 13, 2011 by mannda

ROBERT TRAYNHAM COLES, FAIA HOUSE AND STUDIO LISTED ON NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES

Buffalo, NY –

The Director of the National Park Service has announced that the Robert T. Coles House and Studio in Buffalo’s Hamlin Park neighborhood has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. Designed by Coles for his primary residence and architectural studio in 1961, the Modern-styled building has been home to Coles and his wife Sylvia for 50 years. The National Park Service has recognized its pioneering and innovative architectural style.

Throughout his career, Coles has designed many significant structures including the University at Buffalo’s Alumni Arena (1983), transforming the former War Memorial Stadium into the Johnnie B. Wiley Amateur Athletic Sports Pavilion (1993), and the Frank E. Merriweather Library (2006).

Coles has received many awards throughout his career, including an American Institute of Architects Award of Merit, received in 1963 for his residence. Coles was also been honored by the AIA New York State Chapter in 2004 for his lifetime service as an architect. The American Institute of Architects designated him a Fellow, its highest honor, and he has served as a Chancellor of the College of Fellows. Coles is also nationally recognized for encouraging African-Americans and women to become architects.

The nomination was prepared by Architectural Historian Jennifer Walkowski and Clinton Brown, FAIA, of Clinton Brown Company Architecture. Clinton Brown Company Architecture is upstate New York’s leading full-service historic preservation architecture firm, with over 20 years of experience in preservation architecture and grant writing.

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The Directory of African American Architects is maintained as a public service to promote an awareness of who African American architects are and where they are located. The sole qualification for listing is licensure in one of the fifty US jurisdictions and their territories.

If you are not presently listed please complete the PLEASE ADD ME form and submit.

The Directory is sponsored by the Center for the Study of Practice at the University of Cincinnati.

If you are listed and would like to see a link to your firm's web site please contact Dennis Alan Mann at mannda@uc.edu

Privacy Policy

No information in our database is made public except what appears on the web site.

Name, City, State, Home State of License

If the person is a firm owner or partner and if the firm has a web site then a live link is provided to that web site. All other information is stored in our database and used only for research purposes with no names connected to information (see Publications for examples of our research).

Database Summary

There are currently 1829 licensed African American architects in our database.
  • 278
  • 1551

The last 10 architects added to the database:

Jan 26, 2012 Anthony Terrance Lawrence SC
Jan 20, 2012 Dominique M. Hawkins PA
Jan 11, 2012 Ronald A. Jones CA
Jan 11, 2012 Kevin Craig Logan MO
Jan 11, 2012 Jeremy Irvin Tolbert, II CA
Dec 29, 2011 Denver L. Terrance DC
Dec 16, 2011 Stevyn M. Buie SC
Dec 12, 2011 Jennifer M. Carruthers NY
Nov 25, 2011 Terence N. Johnson TX
Nov 23, 2011 Benson R. Ellis FL

The last 5 faculty added to the database:

Jan 20, 2012 Charles Davis, II, PhD NC
Sep 13, 2011 Vaughn Thomas Horn AL
Sep 12, 2011 Peter Pittman GA
Aug 29, 2011 Sekou Gamal Cooke NY
Aug 18, 2011 John Onyango, PhD FL

Announcements:

Dec 5, 2011 Architect Wendell Harp of New Haven, CT., passed away Dec. 1. Please see the following article for a full description of Wendall's many accomplishments: http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/lunch_with_wendell/id_42659
Sep 4, 2011 We have been informed of the passing in the last few years of Georgia architects David Augustus Swan and Michael A. Few. We appreciate this new information and are saddened to hear of the loss of two African American Architects.
Jul 20, 2011 LSU School of Architecture Professor Julian T. White passes away Julian White died Tuesday after a long battle with cancer. He joined the LSU faculty as a professor of architecture in 1971, breaking the color barrier on campus. After 33 years of service, he retired in 2003. His architectural footprint can be found on schools and churches across the country. Funeral services will be held Saturday at noon at the First Union Historic Baptist Church, 601 Lee Street, Alexandria, LA., where he was born, raised and also operated W.A. White Funeral Home. A memorial service will be held at a later date at University Baptist Church in Baton Rouge. In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to the Julian T. White Memorial Scholarship fund. Checks should be made payable to the LSU Foundation (memo line Julian T. White Memorial Scholarship) and sent to the LSU Foundation, c/o Michael D. Robinson, College of Art & Design, 102 Design Building, Baton Rouge, LA 70803. Donations may also be made to the American Cancer Society.
Jun 9, 2011 We have just been informed of the passing of Walter R. Livingston, Jr., FAIA. Walter was a partner in the Philadelphia firm Livingston/Rosenwinkel PC and received his Masters degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Our condolences go to his family, friends, and colleagues.
May 15, 2011 The Directory of African American Architects salutes William Manning and Walter Wilson for being elevated to Fellowship in the American Institute of Architects.
Aug 22, 2009 See this comprehensive image gallery of many of the African American Architects who have been movers and shakers in the profession over the past (at least) thirty years: http://archrecord.construction.com/community/diversity/0905/breakthroughs/slide_1.asp
Jan 21, 2007 We are proud to announce that THE DIRECTORY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ARCHITECTS has received a 2007 AIA Award for Collaborative Achievement. The Directory of African American Architects, established in 1991 by two faculty, Professor Bradford Grant, chair of Architecture at Hampton University, and Dennis Mann, Professor of Architecture at the University of Cincinnati, have garnered an Institute Honor for Collaborative Achievement for its success in advancing “the visibility, representation, and contributions of African-American architects,” in the words of its founding collaborators. The directory lists more than 1,500 African-American architects who practice in the private and public sectors, teach in higher education, or work outside the profession and still maintain licensure. The listing, with its series of highlight studies, continues to expand and now includes a Web site [http://blackarch.uc.edu] and a comparable listing of landscape architects. Noting the directory’s immediate usefulness, J. Max Bond Jr., FAIA, writes in support of the nomination: “The Directory’s existence helped give a presence to African-American architects. It helped people contact each other and thus helped to reinforce the creation of a community of Architects.”
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