John Louis Wilson Jr.
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - John Louis Wilson Jr.
OR:
John Louis Wilson Jr. on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

John Louis Wilson Jr. (January 24, 1898 – October 31, 1989) was an American architect. He was one of the first African American architects to be registered in New York State. pg 204 He had worked for New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and also maintained a private architecture practice in the New York City.


Early life and education

John Louis Wilson Jr. was born on January 24, 1898, in
Meridian Meridian or a meridian line (from Latin ''meridies'' via Old French ''meridiane'', meaning “midday”) may refer to Science * Meridian (astronomy), imaginary circle in a plane perpendicular to the planes of the celestial equator and horizon * ...
, Mississippi into an African American family. Wilson's father was a minister and his mother was a music teacher. His maternal grandfather had been born into slavery, and because he valued education, he sent his five children to college. He attended elementary school in Meridian, and starting at age 12 he attended
Gilbert Academy Gilbert Academy was a premier College-preparatory school, preparatory school for African-American high school students in New Orleans, Louisiana. Begun in 1863 in New Orleans as a home for colored children orphaned by the American Civil War, the ...
in New Orleans. Wilson graduated with a B.A. (1919) from
New Orleans University New Orleans University was a historically black college that operated between 1869 and 1935 in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It was founded by Freedmen's Aid Society and the Methodist Episcopal Church. It merged with Straight College in ...
(now
Dillard University Dillard University is a private, historically black university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded in 1930 and incorporating earlier institutions founded as early as 1869 after the American Civil War, it is affiliated with the United Church of C ...
); and from the
Columbia School of Architecture The Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) is the architecture school of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. It is also home to the Masters of Science program in Advanced Architectur ...
(now Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation) with a B.Arch. (1928). He was the first Black graduate of the architecture program at Columbia University.


Career

From 1920 to 1923, he worked as a math teacher and football coach at
Philander Smith College Philander Smith University (previously Philander Smith College) is a private historically black college in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and is a founding member of the United Negro College Fund (UNC ...
in
Little Rock Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...
, Arkansas. He moved to New York City in 1924 with the intention to attend Columbia University and study architecture. He had to delay his studies due to financial issues and from 1924 until 1926, Wilson worked as a draftsman for architect
Vertner Woodson Tandy Vertner Woodson Tandy (May 17, 1885 – November 7, 1949) was an American architect. He was one of the seven founders (commonly referred to as "The Seven Jewels") of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity at Cornell University in 1906. He was the first Afri ...
. By 1928, he had completed his architecture degree. Wilson began his architectural career in 1929, with the
New York City Board of Transportation The New York City Board of Transportation or the Board of Transportation of the City of New York (NYCBOT or BOT) was a city transit commission and operator in New York City, consisting of three members appointed by the Mayor of New York City, m ...
and on September 24, 1930, he became a registered architect in the state. He was one of the earliest African American architects to be licensed in New York state. In 1933, he set up his own architectural practice in Harlem, and left the New York City Board of Transportation. Wilson maintained his private practice until his retirement in 1980. He had also served as a consulting architect for the
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolog ...
. In the 1930s, Wilson was appointed by mayor
Fiorello La Guardia Fiorello Henry La Guardia (born Fiorello Raffaele Enrico La Guardia; December 11, 1882September 20, 1947) was an American attorney and politician who represented New York in the U.S. House of Representatives and served as the 99th mayor of New Yo ...
to join the architecture team for the design of the Harlem River Houses, but he faced racism and he was not made one of a lead architects. There were seven architects working together on the Harlem River Houses, which was the first federally financed housing project. In the mid-1950's, Wilson was a founding president of the Council for Advancement of Negroes in Architecture (NACA), which was merged in 1967 with the
American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach progr ...
(AIA). He was a fellow of the American Institute of Architects. The New York Coalition of Black Architects honored his work in 1980. In 1984, he was awarded the Whitney M. Young Jr. award by the AIA. Wilson's profile was included in the biographical dictionary '' African American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary, 1865–1945'' (2004). He died of cancer on October 31, 1989, at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. His daughter Judith Ann Wilson Rogers (born 1939), is a
senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...
United States circuit judge In the United States, a federal judge is a judge who serves on a court established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. Often called "Article III judges", federal judges include the chief justice and associate justices of the U.S. Su ...
of the
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. courts of appeals, ...
.


Work

*
Harlem River Houses The Harlem River Houses is a New York City Housing Authority public housing complex between 151st Street, 153rd Street, Macombs Place, and the Harlem River Drive in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The complex, which cov ...
(1937), public housing complex, Harlem, New York City, New York;
NRHP The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of sites, buildings, structures, districts, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
-listed * Morris Park Apartments (1960), also known as Mount Morris Park Senior Citizen's Housing Project, a federally funded senior housing complex, 17 E. 124th Street, East Harlem, New York City, New York * Throg's Neck Library,
New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...
(1972), 3025 Cross Bronx Expy.,
The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...
, New York City, New York * Early Childhood Center (1975), New York City Board of Education, Brooklyn, New York City, New York


See also

*
African-American architects African-American architects are those in the architectural profession who are African American in the United States. Their work in the more distant past was often overlooked or outright erased from the historical records due to the racist social ...


References


External links


John L. Wilson papers
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is a research library of the New York Public Library (NYPL) and an archive repository for information on people of African descent worldwide. Located at 515 Malcolm X Boulevard (Lenox Avenue) be ...
, New York Public Library
Columbia GSAPP Alumni Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson Jr., John Louis 1898 births 1989 deaths People from Meridian, Mississippi African-American architects Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation alumni Architects from New York City Philander Smith University faculty Fellows of the American Institute of Architects New Orleans University alumni Fiorello La Guardia political appointees