Vertner W. Tandy | First Licensed Black Architect
Vertner Woodson Tandy, one of seven founders of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, was born on May 17, 1885, in Lexington, Kentucky, to Henry A. Tandy, a successful entrepreneur and building contractor and Emma Brice Tandy. He gained an understanding of construction by watching his father build and develop homes in Lexington. Born enslaved, Henry Tandy established the construction firm, Tandy & Byrd. Among their projects were the Lexington Opera House and the Fayette County Courthouse, now Lexington’s Visitors Center. These early experiences with his father led Vertner Tandy to develop an interest in architecture.
In 1904, 19-year-old Tandy entered Tuskegee University to study architecture, and during his short stay, he was under the guidance of Booker T. Washington. Tandy became the Tuskegee architecture program’s “prize” student, but a year later, in September 1905, he transferred to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Henry Arthur Callis recalled that Tandy showed up on the hallowed grounds in a rather “tight cadet’s uniform with a saxophone under his arm.” Tandy, Callis and a small group of college men formed Alpha Phi Alpha Society in spring 1906, which would eventually become Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the first African American Greek-letter fraternity on December 4 of the same year. During his time in the fraternity, Tandy was treasurer, designer of the pin and eventually was responsible for its incorporation.
Upon graduation, Vertner W. Tandy became the first African American registered architect in New York. His office on Broadway in New York City would be the home of Tandy & Foster, his architectural firm. Among the buildings designed by the highly gifted architect are Saint Phillips Episcopal Church in New York City and the Ivey Delph Apartments, which in 2005 were listed on the National Register of Historic Places. His most famous commission was Villa Lewaro, the mansion of Harlem businesswoman Madam C.J. Walker, in Irvington, New York.
Vertner W. Tandy became the first African American to pass the military commissioning examination in World War I. After undergoing officer training at Fort Des Moines in Iowa, he was subsequently commissioned First Lieutenant in the 15th Infantry of the New York State National Guard. Upon his release from military service, Tandy would return to practicing architecture in New York City for the next three decades. On November 7, 1949, he died of pneumonia in New York City at 64.
Madam C.J. Walker and The Villa Lewaro Estate
Madam C.J. Walker was born Sarah Breedlove, a child of a slave. A pioneer of hair care products for black women, she had 23,000 sales agents and workers in the United States, Central America and the Caribbean. She was the first self-made female millionaire in America, an activist and a philanthropist.
She also owned residential and commercial real estate. Her 34-room Italianate mansion was designed by Vertner Tandy, the first black licensed architect in New York and one of the founding members of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. He designed a then $250,000 three-story stucco villa with a tiered terrace that led to a swimming pool. The interior had a plethora of windows, high ceilings and marble flooring. This 28,000 square foot estate hosted notable guests such as members of the Harlem Renaissance: Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and James Weldon Johnson. Madam C.J. Walker also entertained friends Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois and Mary McLeod Bethune, just to name a few. The Estey Organ STILL functions in the home today and cost $25,000 when installed over 100 years ago – an astronomical price at the time. According to the New York Post, she installed the organ in the home’s ornate music room, where dancer Isadora Duncan, Broadway composer John Rosamond Johnson and Frederick Douglass’ grandson, the violinist Joseph Douglass, would all perform.
Villa Lewaro, named after Walker’s daughter, has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976. It has been owned by New Voices Foundation since 2018. Richelieu Dennis, founder and CEO of Sundial Brands, is the founder of NVF. Before that, it was owned for 25 years by Harold Doley Jr., the first Black member of the New York Stock Exchange and executive director of the African Development Bank, and his wife, Helen.
Martha’s Vineyard | Oak Bluffs and Inkwell Beach
Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard, part of Massachusetts’ Cape Cod Islands, is one of several historic African American summer resort communities along the Atlantic seaboard founded in the 1890s. The “Inkwell” or Town Beach in Oak Bluffs is not just a classic 90s movie; it is the name of the popular beach frequented by African Americans beginning in the late nineteenth century. The strand was pejoratively called “The Inkwell” by nearby whites in reference to the skin color of the beach-goers. It is the most famous of beaches across the U.S. to transform this odious nickname into an emblem of pride.
Shearer Cottage, founded by Charles and Henrietta Shearer in 1912 as a summer inn, actually began as a laundry operated by Henrietta, which opened in 1903. The Cottage is the oldest and most well-known of these establishments that catered specifically to African Americans. Their daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughters have continued management of the family’s guest house into the twenty-first century. As blacks grew more prosperous during and after World War II, many of them now brought their families to Oak Bluffs. In Oak Bluffs, especially middle-class black vacationers rented at affordable prices or purchased cottages for less than $30,000 from the 1950s through the early 1970s. By 2010, many of these properties were worth 15 to 20 times their original sale prices, making Oak Bluffs arguably the wealthiest of the black resort communities. Vacationers and residents have included Spike Lee, Henry Louis Gates, Paul Robeson, Vernon Jordan, Ethel Waters, Charlayne Hunter-Gault and most recently, President Obama and family.
Paul R. Williams | Hollywood’s Architect
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Born in Los Angeles, Paul Revere Williams attended the engineering school of the University of Southern California. He became a certified architect in 1915 and opened his own firm at age 28 off famed Wilshire Boulevard. It is said that Paul understood the value of owning your dream home and designed it for influential clientele in the late 1920s. He is known for his unique skill of drawing upside down because he was not allowed to sit next to his white clients.
Mr. Williams designed unique homes with breathtaking views that seamlessly merged the outside with the interior of the home. Frank Sinatra, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Lucille Ball, Mia Farrow, Audrey Hepburn and CBS founder William Paley are a few renowned people for which he has designed homes. In addition, numerous wealthy people and stars such as Denzel Washington have bought a Paul Williams home from a previous owner. His versatility included Spanish Colonial Revival, Japanese Modern, Georgian, Tudor and more styles of architecture. His work also expanded into the design of commercial spaces such as the Shrine Auditorium, Second Baptist Church, Los Angeles International Airport, Saks Fifth Avenue Store on Wilshire Boulevard and the Naval Air Station, just to name a few. None of his work is more iconic than the Beverly Hills Hotel addition in 1949. His homes still sell today for several million dollars in several neighborhoods throughout LA, including Beverly Hills.
Jean Baptiste Point du Sable | Father of Chicago
Du Sable was from St. Marc, Saint-Domingue, now Haiti, and is believed to have been a freeborn. He was a Black pioneer, trader and founder of the settlement that later became the city of Chicago. An explorer and entrepreneur, Du Sable was a well-known and highly respected businessman in the northwest territory of the United States. He traded heavily with neighboring tribes and established the main supply station for westward-bound white men who were moving from the English colonies.
His farm was recorded at Peoria in the early 1770s. The farm encompassed more than 800 acres of land. In 1783, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable’s U.S. citizenship was officially recorded in what is now known as the area of Peoria, Illinois. Around the 1770s, he went to the Great Lakes area of North America, settling on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Chicago River with his Potawatomi wife, Kittihawa (Catherine).
He spoke fluent French, Spanish, English and several Native American languages. He traded heavily with neighboring tribes and established the main supply station for westward-bound white men who were moving from the English colonies. In 1778, he was temporarily jailed by the British armed forces on charges of being a French spy. These allegations were never substantiated. The native accounts were corroborated by the Europeans in 1779 when a British Commandant of Fort Michilimackinac reported the frontiersman as a “handsome Negro, well-educated and settled in Eschikagou (Chicago).”
Du Sable was known as a man of fine tastes. He built his home on the north bank (North Michigan Avenue) of what is now known as the Chicago River, near the site of today’s Wrigley Building (chewing gum) and the Tribune Tower. Monsignor Meshan wrote that Du Sable was the only man who thought of having a cabin built of imported French walnut wood. Meshan said his home contained “a feather bed, a couch and a bureau, to say nothing of mirrors and pictures, in the midst of a wilderness.” Du Sable’s establishments along the Chicago River were reported to possess 23 Old World art treasures. By 1790, Du Sable’s establishment had become an important link in the region’s fur and grain trade. In 1800, he sold out and moved to Missouri, where he continued as a farmer and trader until his death. But his 20-year residence on the shores of Lake Michigan had established his title as Father of Chicago. Du Sable died at 73 on August 28, 1818, in St. Charles, Missouri.
David Moody | C.D. Moody Construction
David Moody is a graduate of Morehouse College, a historically black college founded in 1867 in Atlanta. C.D. Moody Construction was established in 1988 and is an award-winning general contracting and construction management firm. They specialize in aviation, collegiate, commercial, K-12, municipal, nonprofit, retail and historic renovations. They have made their mark on more than 200 commercial projects valued at over $3 billion dollars. The Cyclorama, Olympic Stadium and Turner Field, Maynard H. Jackson Jr. International Terminal, Tuskegee University Tompkins Hall, Ray Charles Performing Arts Center at Morehouse College, Atlanta History Center and Morehouse Leadership Center are just a few projects that the company has been involved. In September 2019, David Moody joined as a 49% partner on a $650 million dollar mixed-use project of affordable and market-rate housing, restaurants, retail, offices and a performing arts center. His daughter, Karia Moody, is a Spelman College alumna and the company’s vice president.