John S. Chase

Who was John S. Chase?

John Saunders Chase, Jr. was a prolific American architect who was the first licensed African-American architect in the state of Texas and was the only black architect licensed in the state for almost a decade. He was also the first African-American to serve on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, which reviewed the design for the United States Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

On June 7, 1950, when Chase enrolled at the University of Texas, the university became the first major university in the South to enroll an African-American. Upon graduation, no white firm would hire him, so Chase moved to Houston to start his own firm. In 1963, he built the Riverside National Bank, the first black-owned bank in Texas. In 1971, he and 12 others founded the National Organization of Minority Architects.