John Saunders Chase Jr.
January 23, 1925–March 29, 2012
On June 5, 1950, the U. S. Supreme Court issued a ruling desegregating graduate and professional schools in Texas. Two days later, twenty-five-year-old John Saunders Chase became the first African American to enroll in The University of Texas’s master’s program in architecture.
Chase earned his degree two years later. He soon became the first licensed African American architect in Texas.
In a distinguished career spanning more than five decades, Chase designed buildings throughout southeast and central Texas, including many Black churches, homes, and businesses. His style was distinctly modern, inspired by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. Chase’s buildings have clean lines and bright, open public spaces—their designs guided not by tradition, but rather by the needs of the individuals and communities they would serve.
As Chase gained success, he took on larger public projects that included multiple buildings on the Texas Southern University campus and, in collaboration with other architects, Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center and the 1988 Astrodome renovation.
Chase’s legacy extends beyond his buildings. In 1971, he co-founded the National Organization of Minority Architects. As a member of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, he helped select Maya Lin to design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC.
Chase died in 2012. He is remembered as a professional and civic leader and one of Texas’s most important progressive architects.
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Examples of Chase’s work can be found across the state of Texas. His legacy is strongly felt on the Texas Southern University campus in Houston, where he designed the Ernest S. Sterling Student Life Center, the Thurgood Marshall School of Law, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Humanities Center. Three of Chase’s most famous commissions, Olivet Baptist Church, David Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, and the Phillips House, still stand in the heart of East Austin.
In our February 2018 e-newsletter, Humanities Texas featured a piece on Chase excerpted from As We Saw It: The Story of Integration at The University of Texas at Austin, edited by Gregory J. Vincent, Virginia A. Cumberbatch, and Leslie A. Blair.
In a 2006 interview conducted as part of the Shirley Bird Perry University of Texas Oral History Project, Chase describes his experience registering for graduate school at UT Austin in 1950 following the Sweatt v. Painter ruling.
In an episode of "In Black America," Chase discusses his decision to attend UT, the early years of his career, his goals as president of the UT alumni organization, and the influence he hopes to have upon minority youth.
In 1998, Chase became the first Black president of The University of Texas’s alumni organization, the Texas Exes. To celebrate his exceptional achievements and his pioneering determination, the Texas Exes Black Alumni Network established the John S. Chase Legacy Scholarship. The scholarship grants financial support to entering African American freshmen who demonstrate academic excellence, leadership abilities, and financial need.
Selected Bibliography
Becnel, Veronica Nia Dorian. "John S. Chase." Texas Architect 39 (November-December 1989): 47.
Cahalan, Rose. "Texas Loses a Trailblazer: John Chase Dies." The Alcalde, April 2, 2012.
Chase, John Saunders. "Progressive Architecture for the Negro Baptist Church." M. Arch. thesis, The University of Texas at Austin, 1952.
Crossette, Amy Maverick. "Following Historic Enrollment, African American Architect John Saunders Chase Lays Foundation of Firsts." The University of Texas at Austin, February 4, 2008.
Lavergne, Gary M. Before Brown: Heman Marion Sweatt, Thurgood Marshall, and the Long Road to Justice. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2010.
"A Legacy of Firsts: Texas Architect John S. Chase." Humanities Texas, February 28, 2018.
Luebke, Thomas E., ed. Civic Art: A Centennial History of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts. Washington, DC: US Commission of Fine Arts, 2013: Appendix B, p. 542.
Lum, Lydia. "An Appreciation: Architect John Chase Desegregated University of Texas." Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, April 9, 2012.
Sanders, J. Victoria. "John Chase and the Legacy of a First." Texas Observer, April 28, 2012.
Sisson, Patrick. "John S. Chase: A Trailblazing Texas Architect." Curbed, August 14, 2017.
Velez, Nicholas. "Tour Displays Work of John S. Chase, First African American Architect in Texas." Daily Texan, October 7, 2013.
Vincent, Gregory J., Virginia A. Cumberbatch, Leslie Blair, and Fran Harris. As We Saw It: The Story of Integration at the University of Texas at Austin. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2018.
Spanish Translation
Download the Spanish translation of this Texas Originals script.
Portrait of John Saunders Chase, 1992. Courtesy of Texas Exes.
John Chase sits in a classroom on the campus of The University of Texas at Austin, 1950. UT Texas Student Publications, Inc. Photos, The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
The interior of the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University in Houston, designed by John Saunders Chase. Courtesy of Texas Exes.
Phillips House, located in East Austin, is one of Chase's most famous residential designs. Courtesy of James and Penny Moore.