African American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary, 1865-1945
This alphabetically arranged, 168-entry biographical dictionary contains articles from 250 to 4,000 words in length on African American architects practicing in the late nineteenth and early to mid-twentieth centuries. All articles are internally cross-referenced and extended by photographs of the architects and the buildings they designed. Using the definition of the wordarchitectto mean a person who has created a design and presented it visually such that it could be constructed, the 100 contributors have profiled both licensed and unlicensed individuals. Examples include Julian Francis Able (1881-1950), who designed the Free Library of Philadelphia; William Wilson Cooke (1871-1949), who designed small-town post offices throughout the Midwest; and David Augustus Williston (1868-1962), one of the first African American landscape designers. Biographical entries include a building list for each architect, identifying the client and building name, the address of the building at the time it was built, and the year in which it was built. Also here are entries for nine architectural programs and eight so-called Negro Buildings designed for the most part by African American architects for one world's fair and seven southern regional fairs. The volume concludes with a general bibliography, an appendix listing buildings by state, and an accurate index.The writing is generally clear and easy to read, though at times a little uneven. Most contributors are university or professionally affiliated, but some are relatives of the architects, and their articles tend to be less authoritative in tone. Despite this, there is nothing else comparable on the market, makingAfrican American Architectsa sound purchase, especially for college and university libraries with architecture programs, though it is also intended for preservationists, architects, and historians.RBBCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved