Docomomo US Diversity Tour: John Chase FAIA, TSU and Third Ward

Docomomo US Diversity Tour
John Chase FAIA, Texas Southern University and the Third Ward

Houston Mod invites you to join us
Sunday, October 13, 2019, 2:30pm
Walking Tour of the Texas Southern University Campus
 

John S. Chase FAIA (1925 - 2012) was from Baltimore, Maryland. After serving in WWII, he earned a degree in architecture from Hampton University in Virginia. In 1952, he earned a Master’s Degree in Architecture from the University of Texas, becoming the first African American person to do so. He soon became the first registered African American architect in Texas. Unable to find work, he started his own firm, specializing in the design of churches and houses. His early work was inspired mostly by Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian ideals. He moved to Houston to accept a position at Texas Southern University, the beginning of his involvement with the campus. Through his office in Houston, he designed a number of buildings for the TSU campus, where the largest collection of his work can be found. John Chase’s legacy extends beyond his own work. As a founding member of NOMA (National Organization of Minority Architects) in 1971 and throughout his long career, he continued to advocate for and support minority architects.

Texas Southern University Campus Walking Tour: Come join us and tour the heart of the TSU campus and view the buildings designed by John Chase that established a new direction for the campus master planning and architecture in the 1960s. We will start at the East Parking Garage (Smith & Company 2006) and walk south to the Thurgood Marshall School of Law (John S. Chase 1976). At the entrance to the central campus plaza, we will pass by the newest campus building, the Library Learning Center (Moody Nolan 2019). The tour extends west to the first campus building, Fairchild Hall (Cato, Austin, Evans 1947), home to the University Museum (founded 2000). Prominent art pieces by internationally renowned African American muralist painter John T. Biggers and sculptor Carroll Harris Simms are on display in the Museum and on the campus.