ALUMNUS PROFILE: John S. Chase [M.Arch. ‘52] On June 7, 1950, John Saunders Chase made history when he enrolled at The University of Texas at Austin. Just two days prior, the United States Supreme Court had voted in favor of desegregation of graduate and professional schools and The University of Texas at Austin became the first major public university in the South to open its doors to African Americans. Born in Annapolis, Maryland, Chase received a bachelor of science degree in architecture from Hampton University in 1948.
Right: Two days after the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of desegregation of graduate and professional schools, John Saunders Chase enrolls at The University of Texas at Austin to pursue a master’s degree in architecture. Photo taken June 7, 1950. Photo: Center for American History, UT Austin. Source: UT Texas Student Publications, Inc. Photographs.
In 1980, an appointment by President Jimmy Carter made Chase the first African American to serve on the United States Commission of Fine Arts.
“After graduating from Hampton I took a job in Philadelphia as a drafter,” said Chase. “It was at that time that I began to realize just how few black architects there were. Almost all of them were either in New York City or California.
In 1992, Chase was honored as the first African American to receive a Distinguished Alumnus Award from the university’s Ex-Students’ Association (now referred to as the Texas Exes). Just six years later, and almost a half-century after his historical acceptance into the university, Chase made history yet again by becoming the first African American to serve as president of the association.
“When I was offered a job in Austin at the Lott Lumber Company, which was owned by an African American family, I jumped at the opportunity,” said Chase.
In 1994, his lasting presence became immortalized in concrete at the ribbon cutting of the $7.4 million, 750-car garage he designed and built on the university campus, at 25th and San Antonio streets.
Realizing his only hope to become an architect lay in earning a graduate degree, Chase enrolled at the university and two years later became the first African American to graduate from the School of Architecture at The University of Texas at Austin.
Over the years, Chase has earned numerous awards and honors, including Fellow of AIA (1990), the AIA Whitney M. Young Citation for Significant Contributions to Social Responsibility (1982), the Distinguished Black Alumnus Award from the UT Black Alumni Task Force (1989), and the NOMA Design Excellence Awards four years in a row (1984-1987).
Upon receiving his master’s degree in architecture, Chase was offered a position as an assistant professor at Texas Southern University (TSU) in Houston. He and his wife, Drucie, moved to Houston with great expectations of seeing his career as an architect blossom into a reality. John Saunders Chase, in front of the San Antonio Garage at 25th and San Antonio streets during the dedication of the $7.4 million structure designed by Chase. Photo: Office of Public Affairs.
In 1971, after the national convention of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Chase and twelve other African American architects founded the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), which has chapters in 18 states.
However, in interview after interview at architectural firms, Chase was denied employment. When he showed up, résumé in hand, to apply for a job, he was told there were no available openings. So he started his own business. “I passed the state examination and in 1952 founded my own architectural firm. I didn’t know anything about bookkeeping or tax laws or how to coordinate designers, draftsmen, and engineers. Basically, I didn’t know a darn thing about running a business.” However, in just a matter of years, Chase achieved a number of impressive “firsts.” Chase became the first African American to practice architecture in Texas. He became the first African American to be accepted into the Texas Society of Architects. And he became the first African American to be accepted into the Houston chapter of the American Institute of Architects. In the 1960s, Chase helped lead efforts to expand TSU. He designed several buildings on the TSU campus, including the Thurgood Marshall School of Law, the Education Building, several dormitories, the Martin Luther King School of Communications, and the student center.
Left: Wiley College Chapel, Marshall, Texas, designed by John Chase. The subject of Chase’s master’s thesis was progressive architecture for churches. “Churches were also still segregated,” he said. “I realized that, if I wanted business, I needed to approach the African American community. And the best way to do that was to attend church.” Within months, after dozens of visits to local churches, Chase had more business than he could handle. Determined to open the door for other African Americans, he began to hire additional engineers, architects, and draftsmen. Right: Model of U.S. Embassy in Tunis, Tunisia; designed by John Chase Architectural firm, 1992. Pl at f orm • 2 4
—Amy Maverick Crossette