John S. Chase was born in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1925. After obtaining a Bachelor of Science in architectural engineering from Virginia’s Hampton Institute (present-day Hampton University) in 1948, he relocated to Austin to teach architectural drafting to veterans at a local vocational school. Chase worked in various capacities—hanging out his shingle in partnership with another aspiring Black architect and as a draftsman for the Black- and family- owned business Lott Lumber Company. Following the landmark Sweatt v. Painter U.S. Supreme Court case, Chase was one of the first Black graduate students to enroll at The University of Texas at Austin and the first African American to graduate from the School of Architecture. After graduation Chase became the first Black licensed architect in Texas, established an architectural firm based in Houston, and went on to have a prolific international career.
Having married Austin native Drucie Rucker and kick starting his career in that city, Chase never forgot Austin. In this virtual presentation, Chase biographer Dr. Tara A. Dudley will chronicle Chase’s contributions to the city’s built environment in service to East Austin’s influential Black middle class. Despite racist cultural and socioeconomic norms of the 1950s and 1960s, Chase worked with Black educators, entrepreneurs, and civic leaders to bring modern architecture to East Austin that expressed the community’s personal and professional kinship, solidarity, and commitment to perseverance in the pursuit of equal rights.
Presenter: Dr. Tara A. Dudley is an Assistant Professor in The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture. Her scholarship examinesthecontributions of African American craftspeople, builders, and architects to the American built environment, focusing on the antebellum and Reconstruction eras in the US South. Her work reflects an interdisciplinary approach to the study of cultural resources with a focus on nineteenth-century American design, African American architectural history, historic preservation, and material culture. She is the author of the multiple award-winning book Building Antebellum New Orleans: Free People of Color and Their Influence (University of Texas Press, 2021). She is currently writing a biography on African American architect John S. Chase, FAIA, NOMAC.
Dr. Dudley was a senior architectural historian for Austin-based preservation consulting firm HHM & Associates, Inc. for two decades and continues to lead and consult on preservation projects across the US. She obtained her master’s (historic preservation) and doctorate (architectural history) degrees from The University of Texas at Austin.