UT Austin Dedicates Its Architecture Library to John S. Chase, Texas' First Black Licensed Architect

The University of Texas at Austin has put a pioneer's name over the door of the library his school built its life around. The university celebrated the dedication of the John S. Chase Architecture and Planning Library on Oct. 22, honoring the alumnus who became Texas' first Black licensed architect, UT News reported.

Chase's story starts with a court case. He enrolled at UT just two days after the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1950 ruling in Sweatt v. Painter challenged segregation in higher education, and he earned a Master of Architecture in 1952 — the School of Architecture's first Black graduate. He went on to become the first Black member of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, a co-founder of the National Organization of Minority Architects, and the first Black president of the Texas Exes, in 1998-99.

The naming was made possible through a $5 million gift from Chase's son, Anthony 'Tony' Chase, and daughter-in-law Dina Al-Sowayel, including a previously announced $1 million pledge establishing two new endowments for the School of Architecture. 'John Chase's story is an important part of the story of our University and our state,' UT President Jim Davis said at the dedication, in remarks reported by UT News. 'Now his name will be part of a place where generations of Longhorns will learn.' Tony Chase quoted his father's own measure of a life: 'A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.'

The Chase Library sits in Battle Hall — the 1911 Cass Gilbert building, newly renovated — and houses the Alexander Architectural Archives, one of the largest architectural repositories in the country. Chase's own firm designed almost 300 buildings and renovation projects, including, on the campus that once would not admit him, the San Antonio Parking Garage and Mike A. Myers Stadium. An exhibit, 'A Library for a Legacy: John S. Chase,' is currently on display in the library's reading room.