James E. Silcott, a trailblazing Los Angeles architect who, due to many items to his alma mater, Howard College, turned probably the most beneficiant benefactor to structure college students at traditionally Black schools within the U.S., died July 17 in Washington, D.C. He was 95.
Silcott’s memorial service came about on Saturday at Howard; he can be laid to relaxation in L.A.’s Inglewood Park Cemetery on Sept. 6.
Silcott, who began in Los Angeles working for Gruen Associates alongside colleagues like Frank Gehry, made historical past as the primary Black venture architect for each Los Angeles County and UCLA. His profitable authorized battles with the county — he alleged that he had been unfairly terminated due to his race, and was later a sufferer of retribution for his lawsuit — shined a light-weight on the entrenched boundaries Black professionals confronted in public establishments on the time.
Born Dec. 21, 1929, in Boston, to folks from the Caribbean island of Montserrat, Silcott grew up within the metropolis’s Roxbury neighborhood throughout a time of restricted alternatives for younger Black folks. Dwelling in tenements and walk-ups, and making buddies of all races and ethnicities, he realized self-reliance, resilience and cultural fluency, as he recounted in a 2007 oral historical past for Northeastern College’s Decrease Roxbury Black Historical past Venture. After graduating highschool, he labored as a resort prepare dinner alongside his father. “I didn’t know what I wished,” he mentioned. However an inherent ability check at an area YMCA pointed him towards structure. After being rejected from a number of structure faculties, he acquired a lifeline by way of Howard College in Washington, D.C.
Silcott entered Howard — its structure program was the primary at a traditionally Black school to obtain accreditation — in 1949. He got here beneath the mentorship of Howard H. Mackey Sr., one of the crucial outstanding Black architects and educators of the twentieth century, identified for instilling a way of structure’s civic function. Silcott’s research have been interrupted by three years within the U.S. Military through the Korean Conflict, the place he rose to the rank of sergeant. Returning to Howard, he earned his 5-year bachelor of structure diploma in 1957.
These years have been marked by fixed monetary pressure — usually forcing him, as he put it, to resolve “whether or not to purchase books or purchase meals” — an expertise that might later drive him, as a donor to Howard, to make sure that future college students wouldn’t face that selection. He would always remember the function Howard performed for him.
“He felt like when no one else would take him, Howard took him,” mentioned his niece Julie Roberts. “He actually credit them for laying the groundwork and setting the trail and altering the trajectory of his life.”
Silcott started his profession working for architect Arthur Cohen in Boston earlier than shifting to Los Angeles — he at all times hated the chilly, mentioned his family and friends — in 1958. Becoming a member of Gruen Associates, one of many period’s most influential companies, he, amongst different efforts, collaborated with Frank Gehry on the design of the Winrock Procuring Heart in Albuquerque. He would quickly work at UCLA’s architectural and engineering workplace, turning into the college’s first Black venture lead on buildings just like the UCLA Boathouse (1965), with its light-filled, maritime-inspired type — together with porthole home windows and an higher story deck for viewing races. Additionally at UCLA he collaborated with Welton Becket and Associates on the Jules Stein Eye Institute (1966), with its clean-lined facade of pale stone columns and glass partitions that opened to pure gentle whereas sustaining shade and privateness.
He later joined Los Angeles County’s Division of Amenities Administration, the place he would change into a senior architect and assist oversee initiatives just like the Inglewood Courts Constructing (1973, one other collaboration with Becket) and Los Angeles County Southeast Normal Hospital (1971), finally renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Normal Hospital. As the one Black architect working within the county, Silcott’s good good friend (and fellow Howard structure graduate) Melvin Mitchell mentioned he was not at all times welcome. “None of these males may ever think about somebody of Silcott’s race or coloration wielding that form of energy, regardless of the phony smiles and benign language used,” Mitchell mentioned in his eulogy at Howard.
On the finish of the last decade Silcott was demoted and later laid off throughout price range cuts — a transfer he contended was racially motivated. The county’s Civil Service Fee finally agreed, ruling in 1984 that he had been improperly terminated as a way to protect the roles of white staff with much less seniority, and ordering that he be reinstated with full again pay. “I needed to battle for my job simply to ensure the principles have been utilized pretty,” Silcott instructed the Los Angeles Instances.
Chief County Engineer Stephen J. Koonce, left, gestured as he mentioned with James Silcott the main points of the architect’s return to work, on March 15, 1984.
(Steve Fontanini / Los Angeles Instances)
However the reinstatement was short-lived: inside months, Silcott alleged that the county had retaliated by stripping away significant duties, amongst different retributions. “That they had him working in a closet at one time,” mentioned Roberts. Later that yr, the Board of Supervisors accepted a roughly $1 million settlement provide to resolve his federal discrimination lawsuit. The Instances famous that his case had “change into a rallying level” for these in search of higher fairness in public employment. As Silcott later mirrored, “This was by no means nearly me. It was about ensuring the following Black architect who comes alongside doesn’t must battle the identical battles.”
Silcott would later work as an architectural guide to public businesses and universities whereas serving on a number of public boards, together with the South Los Angeles Space Planning Fee, the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Fee, the Los Angeles Board of Zoning Appeals and the California State Board of Architectural Examiners.
He constructed a classy residence in Windsor Hills, the place he would usually host household, to not point out mayors, council members, and, later, former President Obama, mentioned Mitchell.
“He was at all times there to assist. For recommendation, assist, something. With out hesitation he’d say, ‘I’ll do it.’ He simply had that beneficiant spirit.”
— Gail Kennard
In 1995 — retired as an architect — he took on minority possession and a board seat at Kennard Design Group, one of many largest Black-owned structure companies within the nation, following the dying of its founder (and Silcott’s good good friend) Robert Kennard. “He didn’t hesitate,” mentioned Gail Kennard, Robert’s daughter, who nonetheless leads the agency, and wished to make sure the corporate’s stability at a troublesome time. “He was at all times there to assist. For recommendation, assist, something. With out hesitation he’d say, ‘I’ll do it.’ He simply had that beneficiant spirit.”
However Silcott’s best love, famous Kennard, was Howard — notably its Division of Structure — the place he would go on to change into a traditionally prolific philanthropist, and assist mentor generations of aspiring architects.
“He would inform me tales about individuals who have been developing within the career,” mentioned Kennard. “He’d say, I discovered this new pupil and she or he’s my new venture.”
Silcott’s potential to assist the college financially grew out of skillful actual property investments, which started with a couple of buildings in Boston that he inherited from his mom. He managed and expanded quite a few properties each in Boston and Los Angeles.
In 1991 he helped set up the James E. Silcott Fund, now valued at $250,000, providing emergency assist to Howard structure college students in monetary misery. In 2002, he established the James E. Silcott Endowed Chair with an preliminary $1 million, bringing architects like Sir David Adjaye, Philip Freelon, Jack Travis and Roberta Washington to show and mentor at Howard. And with a $1 million reward he funded the T. George Silcott Gallery, named for his late brother, offering a venue for exhibitions, critiques and public lectures. Silcott additionally made unrestricted contributions of a whole bunch of 1000’s extra to Howard’s Division of Structure, supporting scholarships, journey fellowships and capital enhancements. By the tip of his life, his contributions to Howard exceeded $3 million, making him, in line with the college, the most important particular person donor to structure packages at traditionally Black schools and universities within the nation.
“Howard and its faculty of structure was on the very middle of his life,” mentioned Mitchell, who famous Silcott’s items additionally helped preserve the college afloat throughout troublesome intervals.
Silcott acquired the Howard College Alumni Achievement Award, the Centennial Skilled Excellence Award and the Howard H. Mackey Dean’s Medal, named after his mentor. He additionally acquired the Kresge/Coca-Cola Award for philanthropy to HBCUs. In 2020, he was elevated to the AIA Faculty of Fellows.
After a stroke in 2020, Silcott moved to Washington, D.C., to be beneath household care. He was positioned in hospice in 2022, and placed on a feeding tube, however lived three extra years towards the chances, famous Roberts, one in every of seven shut nieces and nephews who known as him “Uncle James.”
“He wouldn’t acknowledge that he wasn’t going to reside eternally,” mentioned Roberts. Silcott remained engaged with Howard till his dying.
