Ryder, Donald P., ,
1926-2021, African-American architect, b. Springfield, Oh., Univ. of
Illinois (BA, 1951). Ryder was raised in Dayton, Ohio. He served in the Army
Air Force from 1945-47, then enrolled at the Univ. of Illinois, studying
architecture. In 1957, he moved to Chicago where he landed his first job
with a major firm, helping to design the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado
(1958). In 1959, he moved to New York, working for several different firms,
and helped with the planning for the campus for Lincoln Center (1961) and
the Borough of Manhattan Community College (1963). In 1970, he joined with
another prominent African-American architect in the city, J. Max Bond, to establish the firm Bond
Ryder and Associates. Among the buildings that the firm designed included
the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change (1968) in
Atlanta and the Studio Museum (1979) in Harlem. Ryder began teaching
part-time at the Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New
York in 1972, and then—after retiring from his firm—became a
full professor in 1990 and eventually department chair there, continuing
until his retirement in 2001.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Architecture: Biographies
