J. Max Bond Jr. (1935
– February 18, 2009) was an American architect. He developed an interest in architecture based on experiences ranging from viewing a staircase at a dormitory at the
Tuskegee Institute
Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature.
The campus was de ...
to views of
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
n construction styles on a visit to
Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
. He became one of a small number of nationally prominent
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
architects
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
.
He married writer
Jean Carey Bond in 1961 and they had two children.
Education
Bond was born at
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
to black parents. In 1951 he began his education at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
while still 16 year old,
where he was awarded a bachelor's degree in 1955 and earned a master's degree three years later. During his time at Harvard, he was one of a group of eleven black students targeted by a
cross-burning incident in front of their dormitory,
Stoughton Hall
This is a list of dormitories at Harvard College. Only freshmen live in these dormitories, which are located in and around Harvard Yard. Sophomores, juniors and seniors live in the House system.
Apley Court
South of Harvard Yard on Holyoke Stree ...
.
He ignored advice from a Harvard faculty member to give up the professional pursuit of architecture due to his race, overcoming barriers in what was at the time a white profession.
[
]
Career
He started his professional career in France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
with André Wogenscky. He moved back to 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 ...
, working at the firms of Gruzen & Partners and at Pedersen & Tilney. He moved to Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
where he designed several government buildings, including the Bolgatanga Regional Library in an area near the border with Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...
, which consisted of four buildings shaded by a common roof that was designed to provide natural ventilation and make air conditioning unnecessary.[ He was in Ghana from 1964 until 1967.][
Back in the United States, he served as head of the Architects' Renewal Committee in Harlem (ARCH) in 1967 and 1968. In 1970, together with Donald P. Ryder, he founded the architectural firm of Bond Ryder & Associates which was responsible for the design of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in ]Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
, and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is a large interpretive museum and research center in Birmingham, Alabama that depicts the struggles of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. The Institute is located in the Civil Rights District, whic ...
in Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...
, as well as 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), ...
's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is a research library of the New York Public Library (NYPL) and an archive repository for information on people of African descent worldwide. Located at 515 Malcolm X Boulevard (Lenox Avenue) b ...
.[
The firm merged with ]Davis, Brody & Associates
Davis Brody Bond is an American architectural firm headquartered in New York City, New York, with additional offices in Washington, DC and São Paulo, Brazil. The firm is named for Lewis Davis, Samuel Brody, and J. Max Bond Jr. and is led ...
after Ryder's retirement in 1990. Bond became a partner at the newly combined firm of Davis Brody Bond
Davis Brody Bond is an American architectural firm headquartered in New York City, New York, with additional offices in Washington, DC and São Paulo, Brazil. The firm is named for Lewis Davis, Samuel Brody, and J. Max Bond Jr. and is le ...
, bringing over nine architects to join the nearly 100 at Davis, Brody, which had been best known for its work at Manhattan residential developments at Riverbend Houses Riverbend may refer to:
* A knee or a meander in a river
Places
Australia
* Riverbend, Queensland, a suburb in Logan City
Canada
*Riverbend, Calgary, a neighborhood in Calgary, Alberta
*Riverbend, Edmonton
*Riverbend, a village in Quebec, n ...
, Waterside Plaza
Waterside Plaza is a residential and business complex located on the East River in the Kips Bay section of Manhattan, New York City. It was formerly a Mitchell-Lama Housing Program-funded rental project.
History
Waterside Plaza was built on l ...
and Zeckendorf Towers
The Zeckendorf Towers, sometimes also called One Irving Place and One Union Square East, is a , 29-story, four-towered condominium complex on the eastern side of Union Square, Manhattan, in New York City. Completed in 1987, the building is loca ...
.[Dunlap, David W]
"Minority Firm Joins Davis, Brody Architects"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', October 21, 1990. Accessed February 23, 2009. Bond was responsible for the museum component at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum (also known as the 9/11 Memorial & Museum) is a memorial and museum in New York City commemorating the September 11 attacks of 2001, which killed 2,977 people, and the 1993 World Trade Center bombi ...
at the World Trade Center site at the time of his death.[
Bond served as chairman of the architecture division at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture and Planning from 1980 to 1984. He was dean from 1985 to 1992 at the ]City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...
School of Architecture and Environmental Studies. He served as a member of the New York City Planning Commission from 1980 to 1986.[
]
Death and family
A resident of New York's Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, Bond died of cancer at age 73 on February 18, 2009. He was survived by his wife, writer Jean Carey Bond, two children, three grandchildren, a sister and a brother.[
His father was J. Max Bond Sr., President of the University of Liberia. His mother was ]Ruth Clement Bond
Ruth Clement Bond (May 22, 1904 – October 24, 2005) was an African-American educator, civic leader and artist. As an educator, Bond taught at universities in Haiti, Liberia and Malawi. She headed the African-American Women's Association and in ...
, his sister was the historian Jane Clement Bond and his brother was Prof. George C. Bond (Columbia University/Teachers College). His uncle was Horace Mann Bond
Horace Mann Bond (November 8, 1904 – December 21, 1972) was an American historian, college administrator, social science researcher and the father of civil-rights leader Julian Bond. He earned a master's and doctorate from University of Ch ...
, and his cousin was Julian Bond.
References
External links
J. Max Bond Jr. papers, 1955–2009
* ttps://archive.org/details/sim_ame-church-review_january-march-2009_125_413/page/88/mode/2up Remembrance in the A. M. E. journal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bond, J. Max Jr.
1935 births
2009 deaths
20th-century American architects
African-American architects
Deaths from cancer in New York (state)
City College of New York faculty
Columbia University faculty
Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni
20th-century African-American artists
21st-century African-American people
Architects from Louisville, Kentucky