LOUIS E. FRY, SR.
Fry and Welch
African American AIA Fellow
SAY IT LOUD - Washington DC Exhibitor
Washington DC Based Designer
Bio:
Mr. Fry also was a founding member of the National Organization of Minority Architects and a mentor to hundreds of African Americans who studied and trained to practice architecture.
LOUIS E. FRY, SR.
Bio:
Louis Edwin Fry Sr., a Washington architect and former chairman of the department of architecture at Howard University. Mr. Fry also was a founding member of the National Organization of Minority Architects and a mentor to hundreds of African Americans who studied and trained to practice architecture. Before moving to Washington to join the architecture faculty at Howard University in the early 1950s, he was chairman of the department of architecture at Lincoln University in Missouri and at Tuskegee University in Alabama. Mr. Fry, a resident of Washington, was born in Bastrop, Tex., and graduated from Prairie View State College. He studied engineering at Kansas State University and received a master's degree in architecture from Harvard University. He was a member of the Fellowship of Architects and in 1995 received the Centennial Award of the American Institute of Architects. In 1954, Mr. Fry left the faculty at Howard University and founded the architectural firm of Fry and Welch. He practiced there until retiring in 1972, designing buildings for institutions, public agencies and governments. Among these were Founders Library and Douglass Hall at Howard University.
Year of Elevation:
1968
Featured Project Name:
Founders Library
Featured Project Location:
Washington, DC
Featured Project Completion Date:
1939
Role in Featured Project:
Architect in the office of cheife architect Albert I. Cassell, FAIA
Featured Project Description:
In 1929, the U.S. Congress appropriated more than one million dollars for the construction of this new library. The cornerstone was laid June 10, 1937 and the library was opened for service January 3, 1939. The Georgian-style exterior is red, sand-finished brick with limestone trim., with a clock tower visible throughout Washington, D.C. The interior furnishings and wood paneling are silver oak. In 2012 the Library was named a “national treasure” by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
