George Washington Foster (1866–1923) was an early African-American architect. He was among the first African-American architects licensed by the

State of New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware Ri ...

in 1908, and later New York (1916). Foster partnered with

Vertner Woodson Tandy Vertner Woodson Tandy (May 17, 1885 – November 7, 1949) was an American architect. He was one of the seven founders (commonly referred to as "The Seven Jewels") of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity at Cornell University in 1906. He was the first Afr ...

(1885–1949), the first African-American architect licensed by the State of New York, in the firm of Tandy and Foster, which was active from 1908 to 1914.T. Robins Brown, Schuyler Warmflash, Jim DelGiudice
The architecture of Bergen County, New Jersey: the colonial period to the twentieth century
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Early life

George Washington Foster, Jr. was born on December 18, 1866, in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. His father was a

carriage A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping an ...

stripper A stripper or exotic dancer is a person whose occupation involves performing striptease in a public adult entertainment venue such as a strip club. At times, a stripper may be hired to perform at a bachelor party or other private event. M ...

and his mother was a descendant of

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a ...

. He moved to

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area. Foster attended night school at

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

and studied architecture.

Career

Foster is said to have worked in the office of Henry Hardenbergh from 1888 to 1889, who designed the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

landmarks Dakota Apartment Building,

Plaza Hotel The Plaza Hotel (also known as The Plaza) is a luxury hotel and condominium apartment building in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is located on the western side of Grand Army Plaza, after which it is named, just west of Fifth Avenue, a ...

, and the first Waldorf-Astoria, on the present site of the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...

. During his time with Hardenbergh, he would have worked on the Waldorf Hotel in 1892. He may also have worked on the

Flatiron Building The Flatiron Building, originally the Fuller Building, is a triangular 22-story, steel-framed landmarked building at 175 Fifth Avenue in the eponymous Flatiron District neighborhood of the Boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New ...

, designed by the Chicago-based firm of D. H. Burnham. Around 1908, Foster met

, New York's first registered African-American architect and formed the architectural firm

Tandy & Foster Tandy & Foster was an American architectural firm active from 1908 to 1914 in New York and New Jersey, based in New York City. Founded in 1908 by Vertner Woodson Tandy (1885–1949) and George Washington Foster (1866–1923). Tandy was the firs ...

together. Tandy & Foster designed St. Philip's Episcopal Church (Harlem, New York) in 1910. After 1915, Foster was licensed to practice in New York and maintained his own office until his death. They also worked on the Mother AME Zion Church in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

Personal life

He relocated with his wife, Carrie, to Park Ridge, New Jersey in a house he designed and built. He and his wife had six children, including Henry Hardenburg Foster, who was named after his employer.

Death

He died on December 20, 1923, in a house he designed on Colony Avenue, in Bergen County, Park Ridge, New Jersey. He is buried at the Westwood Cemetery in

Westwood, New Jersey Westwood (known as "The Hub of the Pascack Valley") is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 10,908,

References

1866 births 1923 deaths Artists from Newark, New Jersey People from Virginia Architects from Virginia African-American architects American ecclesiastical architects 20th-century African-American people {{AfricanAmerican-stub