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Benjamin F. McAdoo

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Benjamin F. McAdoo
Born(1920-10-29)October 29, 1920
Pasadena, California, United States
DiedJune 18, 1981(1981-06-18) (aged 60)
Seattle, Washington, United States
EducationPasadena Junior College, University of Southern California, University of Washington
OccupationArchitect
Years active1946–1981
StyleModernist, Northwest Regional style
Spouse
Alice Thelma Dent
​
(m. 1942)​
Children3

Benjamin Franklin McAdoo Jr. (October 29, 1920 – June 18, 1981) was an African American architect. The first Black architect to practice in Washington state, McAdoo designed a number of residential, civic, and commercial structures in the Seattle area in a modernist aesthetic influenced by the Northwest Regional style. Born in Pasadena, California, he attended college in South California, where he became inspired by the work of Paul R. Williams and began to pursue architectural training. After working as a draftsman for local architectural firms and the United States Marine Corps, he pursued his Bachelor of Architecture at the University of Washington in Seattle, graduating in 1946. He became the first licensed African American architect in the state of Washington, and after a brief period designing remodels and alterations, he began to receive commissions designing private residences.

His career was heavily boosted due to favorable coverage in The Seattle Times by architecture journalist Margery Phillips. A residence designed by McAdoo in Burien was declared the "Home of the Year" by the Seattle Times in association with the American Institute of Architects. After designing a number of low-income houses and apartments throughout the 1950s, including eighty single-family houses in his "House of Merit" design, he was hired by the Agency for International Development to design modular houses in Jamaica. He returned to the United States after eighteen months in Jamaica, and began work for the Department of State and the General Services Administration in Washington, D.C., where he aided Edward Durell Stone in designing the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He returned to Seattle in 1964, and began pursuing public and civic architectural commissions. In addition to his architectural work, he participated in the NAACP, hosted a weekly radio show on racial issues for several years, and unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the Washington House of Representatives.

Early life and education

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On October 29, 1920, Benjamin Franklin McAdoo Jr. was born in Pasadena, California to Alfaretta DeRoussel and Benjamin F. McAdoo, Sr., the eldest of their four children. Benjamin McAdoo Sr., worked a variety of jobs, including as a general contractor, while Alfaretta worked as a music instructor. McAdoo grew up in a racially diverse neighborhood of Pasadena, one of a few neighborhoods tolerating black renters due to redlining practices. He attended school at Pasadena High School, working part-time with his father's business of hardwood flooring instillation and tree hauling.[1][2]

After graduating in 1938, he began attending Pasadena Junior College; at this time, he was living alongside his parents and siblings with his paternal grandmother, who ran a grocery store in the area. He was active in the local Seventh Day Adventist Church, giving speeches and sermons at church events. He became interested in architecture, motivated by his belief in housing as a human right and by his admiration for California African-American architect Paul R. Williams. In 1940, he won second place in a school contest to design an architect’s office and living quarters. In 1941, he studied architecture at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, working nights and attending classes during the day. He was ultimately forced to withdraw from the university due to financial concerns, and began work at a number of private firms in Los Angeles.[1][2][3]

In 1942, he worked as a draftsman for the South East Housing Architects in Los Angeles. That July, he joined the United States Marine Corps at Camp Roberts, California, where he continued to work as a draftsman. Soon afterwards, he married Alice Thelma Dent. Alongside their newborn daughter, he relocated with his family to Portland, Oregon in 1943 to pursue a job at the Kaiser Shipyards designing pipe systems for oil tankers. He sent inquiries to the architecture departments of the University of Oregon and the University of Washington (UW), both of which approved a request to transfer credits from his previous colleges. He ultimately chose to enroll in UW, due to a more receptive response to his letters and his belief that Seattle was a more racially tolerant environment than Oregon. While at UW, he published a junior project entitled "An Automobile Salesroom and Shop for Maintenance and Repair" in the university's architectural year book.[1][2][3]

Architectural practice

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He graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture degree on June 22, 1946. Over the following year, he briefly worked at the firms of James J. Chiarelli and Paul Hayden Kirk. In October 1946, he became the first licensed African American architect in the state of Washington.The following year, McAdoo began his own practice from his apartment in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Business was favorable for architects at this time due to a postwar housing boom corresponding to the rise of modernist architecture in the United States. He was initially hired for remodels and alterations, designing seventeen such commissions during his first year of business.[1][3][4]

In June 1947, he received his first full commission soon after founding his practice, for the Madrona residence of local dentist and Black community activist John P. Browning. After living in various homes to the south of Seattle, he moved into the city proper in 1949, living in a renovated house across the street from the Browning residence. He participated in a small homes design competition in 1947, designing a 887 sq ft (82.4 m2) ranch house featuring a butterfly roof. Although the design did not receive the prize, it was reviewed favorably in a column in The Seattle Times.[1][3] His work received consistently favorable coverage by Seattle Times architecture columnist Margery Phillips, with Phillips coverage becoming a major source of publicity across his early career. Beginning in 1954, Phillips launched a "Home-of-the-Month" column in association with the American Institute of Architects. One of McAdoo's works was chosen as one of the first winners, and would ultimately be featured ten times in Phillips' columns. In 1956, a home McAdoo designed for George Hage was selected as "Home of the Year".[2][5][6]

McAdoo's early designs were strongly influenced by the emerging Northwest Regional style, alongside general modern architecture. Key aspects of his designs include exposed structural elements, flat roofs, frequent use of wood, floor-to-ceiling windows, a reliance on horizontal lines, and the integration of the design into the surrounding landscape.[7][8][9] His 1955–1956 design for the Kenneth & Kimi Ota house, a Japanese-American family living in Rainier Valley, Seattle, combined mid-century modern design with aspects of traditional Japanese architecture.[9]

McAdoo had a strong focus on designing low-income housing. In 1948, he designed the nine-unit Ben-Mar Apartments, named for his children Benjamin and Marcia. Unlike other apartment complexes in the area, these apartments were not limited to White tenants.[3] In 1950, he created a design for a 620 sq ft (58 m2) single-family house titled the "House of Merit", featuring two bedrooms, a combined living and dining room, a projecting carport, and exterior walls covered in wood shakes. The House of Merit design was intended to be affordable and easy to construct; five of these homes were constructed before the end of the year, with around eighty constructed over the following three years.[10] Following his increased business success in the 1950s, he purchased an office building for his firm.[11]

As residential neighborhoods spread across Seattle in the late 1950s, McAdoo and his wife chose to relocate from the Montlake neighboring into a residence outside of the Seattle city limits, seeking to live closer to nature and take advantage of larger, less expensive properties. He selected a plot in the rural neighboring community of Bothell, which had no enforced laws against Black property owners. McAdoo and fellow architect Edward Watanabe designed the spacious residence in mid-century modern style, totaling 3,600 sq ft (330 m2) across a main floor and an exposed basement.[3][12] Phillips featured McAdoo's residence three times in her Seattle Times coverage.[6]

Overseas and D.C.

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After hosting an Ghanaian ambassador, McAdoo traveled to Ghana in 1960, seeking to set up an architectural business in the newly-independent country. Such ventures were ultimately unsuccessful, but led to him meeting with President Kwame Nkrumah and hosting Ghanaian exchange students at his house. In 1961, he designed the "Pagoda of Medicine" in Nashville, Tennessee, serving as the medical offices of his brother-in-law Carl A. Dent. That same year, he was appointed the Chief Housing Advisor of the Agency for International Development, and was sent to design modular homes in Jamaica. He arrived in Kingston on January 14, 1962.[3][9][13]

A photograph of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as seen over the water
McAdoo served as the coordinating architect for the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts under Edward Durell Stone

These homes were fashioned from concrete blocks and were able to be constructed by untrained builders, and allowed low-income areas to be connected to water and electrical infrastructure. While in Jamaica, McAdoo lived in a middle-class neighborhood, unlike the upper class accommodations where most foreigners were residing. He attended ceremonies for the Independence of Jamaica on August 6, 1962, alongside other American dignitaries such as President Lyndon B. Johnson.[9]

After staying in Jamaica for 18 months, McAdoo briefly stayed in Washington, D.C., where he did architectural for the Department of State and the General Services Administration.[9] Even during this time, he continued to do some work in Seattle, designing the Four Seas Restaurant with Robert K. L. Wong.[5] He served as the coordinating architect for several of Edward Durell Stone's designs in Washington, D.C., including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the never-built National Fisheries Center and Aquarium.[8][9] He attempted to organize a Latin America division of the USAID, but was ultimately unsuccessful. He returned to Seattle in 1964.[10]

Later career

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Upon returning to Seattle, McAdoo and his family initially lived in an apartment atop his offices in Capitol Hill. After a difficult housing search held back by redlining practices and seller's discrimination, they moved to the Hilltop Community in Bellevue, Washington, where they lived in a home designed by Paul Hayden Kirk.[9] McAdoo continued his work with the General Services Administration at its Auburn offices, with his private architectural practice as a secondary job. In the late 1960s, he returned to private practice full-time, where he specialized in civic and educational buildings such as the Southcenter Blood Bank (1970), the University of Washington Ethnic Cultural Center (1972), and the Queen Anne Pool (1977).[5]

McAdoo worked up until his death on June 18, 1981. His funeral was held at Green Lake Seventh Day Adventist Church.[5][14] After his death, architects Garold Malcolm and Richard Youel continued his firm under the name "McAdoo, Malcolm and Youel". The firm would go on to construct a number of projects over the next twenty years, including the Des Moines Library.[15][16]

Personal life and political ventures

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Charles M. Stokes, the first Black state representative in Washington, made an attempt at running for State Senate office in 1954. McAdoo, seeking to fill the now-vacant seat in the heavily Black 37th District, ran as a Democrat on a civil rights platform, advocating the elimination of sales taxes on food and clothing, greater funding for public schools, and support for the United Nations. He placed second in the district's Democratic primaries, behind Fred H. Dore. The third place candidate, Paul Revelle, disputed the results, as McAdoo resided outside of the district. A superior court judge ruled that he was ineligible; he appealed the decision to the Washington Supreme Court, which maintained the ruling. His attorneys said the ruling was because the "Democrats didn’t want a Negro on ballot".[3] In 1964, he was elected president of the Seattle chapter of the NAACP. The same year, he began hosting a weekly KUOW-FM radio show discussing racial issues. This show ran until 1968.[3][5]

McAdoo was a member of a variety of architectural and civic organizations, including the American Institute of Architects, the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, the National Organization for Minority Architects, the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, and the Society of American Military Engineers. He was a board member of the King County Central Blood Bank, the Seattle Environmental Review Committee, the University of Washington's Educational Opportunity Program, and the board of trustees of Walla Walla College. He was a licensed architect in five jurisdictions; Alaska, he District of Columbia, Montana, Oregon, and Washington state.[17] McAdoo and his wife had two daughters and a son.[1][17]

Works

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Architectural designs by Benjamin F. McAdoo
Name Location Date Ref.
John P. Browning House Madrona, Seattle, WA 1947 [2][3]
Moorhouse Residence 3037 37th Avenue W, Seattle, WA 1948–1949 [2][9]
Ben-Mar Apartments 315 23rd Ave E, Seattle, WA 1949–1950 [2]
New Hope Baptist Church 124 21st Ave, Seattle, WA 1951–1952, 1956–1959 [2]
Young Women's Christian Association, Central District 2820 East Cherry Street, Seattle, WA 1952 [2]
Donald Hochberg House Mercer Island, WA 1954 [2]
Henry Rivkin House 4107 83rd Avenue SE, Mercer Island, WA 1954–1955 [2]
George Hage House Burien, WA 1955 [2]
First African Methodist Episcopal Church (addition) 1522 14th Avenue, Seattle, WA 1955 [2]
Ota Residence 10300 61st Avenue S, Seattle, WA 1955–1956 [2][9]
Walter Binz House 17059 16th Avenue S, Seattle, WA 1957 [2]
McAdoo House 17823 88th Avenue NE, Bothell, WA 1957–1958 [2]
Liep and Keong Go Apartments 1540 12th Avenue S, Seattle, WA 1959–1960 [2]
Marshall Paris Insurance Company Offices Bothell, WA 1960 [2]
Seattle Fire Station No. 29 2139 Ferry Ave SW, Seattle, WA 1969–1972 [2]
King County Central Blood Bank, Southcenter Branch 130 Andover Park E, Tukwila, WA 1970 [2]
Samuel E. Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center 3931 Brooklyn Ave NE, Seattle, WA 1970–1972 [2]
Seattle First National Bank, Wedgwood Branch 8405 35th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 1972 [2]
Trident Warehouse Naval Submarine Base Bangor, Bangor Base, Washington 1975 [18][19]
Queen Anne Pool 1920 1st Ave W, Seattle, WA 1974–1977 [2]
Seattle City Light, Creston-Nelson Substation 5300 South Bangor Street, Seattle, WA 1979–1981 [2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Cottrell-Crawford & Heuser 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x PCAD.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Sprague 2022, pp. 20–27.
  4. ^ Mumford 2014, pp. 50–51.
  5. ^ a b c d e Houser.
  6. ^ a b Dunham 2022b.
  7. ^ Ochsner 2017, pp. 12, 20.
  8. ^ a b Mumford 2014, p. 329.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Mahmoud 2022.
  10. ^ a b Williams 2021.
  11. ^ Dunham 2022a.
  12. ^ Michelson 2012.
  13. ^ Lee 2022, p. 64.
  14. ^ Seattle Times 1981.
  15. ^ Drosendahl 2016.
  16. ^ Mumford 2014, p. 331.
  17. ^ a b SPI 1981, p. C16.
  18. ^ Seattle Times 1981, p. C22.
  19. ^ Archives West 2023.

Bibliography

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