George Washington Foster
George Washington Foster (1866–1923) was an early African-American architect. He was among the first African-American architects licensed by the State of New Jersey in 1908, and later New York (1916). Foster partnered with Vertner Woodson Tandy (1885–1949), the first African-American architect licensed by the State of New York, in the firm of Tandy and Foster, which was active from 1908 to 1914. Early life. George Washington Foster, Jr. was born on December 18, 1866, in Virginia. His father was a carriage stripper and his mother was a descendant of Jefferson Davis. He moved to  Newark, New Jersey at the age of four. Foster attended night school at Cooper Union and studied architecture. Career. Foster is said to have worked in the office of Henry Hardenbergh from 1888 to 1889, who designed the New York City landmarks Dakota Apartment Building, Plaza Hotel, and the first Waldorf-Astoria, on the present site of the Empire State Building. During his time with Hardenbergh, he would have worked on the Waldorf Hotel in 1892. He may also have worked on the Flatiron Building, designed by the Chicago-based firm of D. H. Burnham. Around 1908, Foster met Vertner  Woodson Tandy, New York's first registered African-American architect and formed the architectural firm Tandy & Foster together. Tandy & Foster designed St. Philip's Episcopal Church (Harlem, New York) in 1910. After 1915, Foster was licensed to practice in New York and maintained his own office until his death. They also worked on the Mother AME Zion Church in Harlem. Personal life. He relocated with his wife, Carrie, to Park Ridge, New Jersey in a house he designed and built. He and his wife had six children, including Henry Hardenburg Foster, who was named after his employer. Death. He died  on December 20, 1923, in a house he designed on Colony Avenue, in Bergen County, Park Ridge, New Jersey. He is buried at the Westwood Cemetery in Westwood, New Jersey.