With work from the first and second licensed Black architects in America, the National Trust considers it to be one of the rarest cultural landscapes in the United States.
2021 was unfortunately a record year in terms of the death notices and obituaries of many who contributed to our profession in ways both large and small. Our pages were filled with heartfelt tributes to the many who were taken from us in fields that included academia (like Thomas Gordon.
Donald P. Ryder, architect of Black cultural works, dies at 94 He was drafted out of college at 19 years old into service in the segregated armed forces to serve as a prison guard and driver to white officers, and attended a segregated college campus,” said his daughter.
The
New York Times reported Ryder died on February 17, in his New Rochelle, NY home. The death was confirmed to the outlet by his daughter
Lorraine Ryder. As an architect, Ryder and his firm designed important sites for Black culture and became one of the country’s prominent partnerships of Black architects. Together with
Donald P. Ryder, Architect of Black Heritage Sites, Dies at 94
His firm, which he formed with J. Max Bond Jr., designed public works commemorating the civil rights movement as well as the Schomburg Center in Harlem.
The architects Donald P. Ryder, center, J. Max Bond Jr., left, and Nathan Smith in about 1969. Mr. Ryder and Mr. Bond’s New York firm designed prominent repositories of Black culture and social history. Credit.via Davis Brody Bond, LLP
April 14, 2021Updated 3:55 p.m. ET
Donald P. Ryder, whose firm designed important repositories of Black culture and social history in becoming one of the nation’s most prominent partnerships of Black architects, died on Feb. 17 at his home in New Rochelle, N.Y. He was 94.