Chester Higgins, Courtesy Bruce Silverstein Gallery 
The early construction of Tuskegee University’s campus, designed by Robert R. Taylor, the nation’s first accredited Black architect, laid the foundation for a new exhibit at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., featuring the institution’s chapel building.
Since late February, The Tuskegee Chapel: Paul Rudolph x Fry & Welch exhibition has illustrated the collaboration between renowned architect Paul Rudolph and former Tuskegee faculty members Louis Fry Sr. and John Welch. The 1960-1969 collaboration led to the design and construction of a revived chapel building after the 1898 structure, one of Taylor’s historic Tuskegee blueprints, was destroyed by a fire six decades later.
Dr. Kwesi Daniels and Helen Brown Bechtel take audience questions following their lecture on the exhibition at the Yale School of Architecture on January 9, 2025.
Dr. Kwesi Daniels, head of the institution’s architecture department, says that the development of the second chapel building was “grounded in the architectural legacy of Tuskegee – starting with Taylor.” The legacy that Daniels reflected on was the approach that faculty took to teach students and then using that knowledge to design buildings on campus.
By 1930, Taylor designed nearly every building on what was then the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute campus. Buildings that housed Dr. Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee’s founding principal and first president, and the research laboratories for well-known scientist and educator George Washington Carver, were the beginning of the institution’s architectural record. From classrooms, dorm halls and the original chapel building, Tuskegee’s first generation of students created bricks to build the historic campus.
In 1974, Tuskegee became the first and only college campus to be designated by the National Park Service as a National Historic Site and still holds the distinct title today.
“At Tuskegee, buildings are never just objects; they are classrooms and sanctuaries,” Dr. Catherine Armwood, dean of the Robert R. Taylor School of Architecture and Construction Sciences, tells ESSENCE. “This exhibit recognizes the Chapel as a spiritual and social anchor for our campus and as a living laboratory where generations of students have learned, and will continue to learn, how to design and build with purpose while embodying the strength of our past.”
Tuskegee Chapel under construction, 1969.
The current showing in the nation’s capital comes one year after it was on display at the Yale Architecture Gallery in 2025, coinciding with the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s retrospective collection of Rudolph’s work. Helen Brown Bechtel, architect and main curator of the latest exhibit, shares that after conducting research on Rudolph she discovered a rich and long standing relationship between the designer and Dr. Luther Hilton Foster Jr., Tuskegee’s fourth president.
Although Taylor and Washington’s period at Tuskegee came decades prior to Rudolph’s relationship with the institution, Bechtel understood that “it was a gateway to uncovering an incredibly rich story about American architectural education.”
In 1892, Taylor became the first Black graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Shortly after, he was recruited by Washington to join the institution as a professor and architect. While at the institution, the MIT scholar brought his expertise in developing structures and introduced the early foundation of the architecture program. From design concepts to fully built structures, Taylor ensured that his teaching expanded beyond students assisting in the physical labor of building Tuskegee, providing them with an education that trained a future generation of architects.
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) have a history of training generations of their students to become leaders in their industry. For instance, Vertner Woodson Tandy, New York state’s first registered African American architect, was trained by Taylor while attending Tuskegee, before his arrival at Cornell University. His career in architecture is most notably recognized for the designs that built the current St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Harlem and the estate of Madam C.J. Walker.
“MIT has a particular interest in celebrating history and increasing the profile of Robert R. Taylor, who we feel is a very important figure in the history of American architecture,” said MIT’s Head of Architecture Nicholas de Monchaux. “Taylor is the root of our long standing collaboration with Tuskegee now.” Collectively, Bechtel, Tuskegee and MIT partnered to share the full narrative that led to the design and construction of the new chapel building, mirroring the early collaboration between Rudolph, Fry and Welch.
In 1960, Rudolph designed a plan for the chapel, and through revisions provided by Fry and Welch in 1965, the building came to reflect the history of the campus. After reviewing early drawings of the structure, Bechtel noticed that “a sculptural concrete building of sort of modernist principles suddenly became an independent chapel placed solidly on a long continuum of Tuskegee’s symbolic relationship to a certain material that for a long time had represented its economic power and performance.”
The exhibit features three main categories to communicate Tuskegee’s contribution to architectural education. These details include the significance of brick to Tuskegee, the chapel’s link to the surrounding buildings on campus and the contributions of Fry and Welch. Bechtel continues, “You cannot understand the importance of building if you are not understanding all of the participants and contributors.”
Tuskegee and MIT alumnus Myles Sampson constructed a full-scale brick replica sculpture of the building’s original materials. “He explored the relationship between Tuskegee’s traditional brick and possibilities for robotic assembly fabrication,” said de Monchaux. “It shows how this same story is growing and continuing with new generations of architects and designers.”
As one of the oldest architecture programs in Alabama, the new exhibit elevates Tuskegee’s century-long architectural history. Dr. Daniels believes that the exhibit gives the community an opportunity to honor the institution’s pioneers, “giving flowers to those who built the buildings on campus and took that knowledge to build Black communities all across the country.”
The Tuskegee Chapel: Paul Rudolph X Fry & Welch is open until January 2027.
The post Tuskegee Chapel Exhibit Honors Black Architects’ Legacy appeared first on Essence.
Author: Shelby Stewart
Read the original article on Essence.