Architect Profile: J. Max Bond Jr.

J. Max Bond Jr. a name that is globally renown and one that New Yorkers know intimately. Mr. Bond Jr. was seriously a genius. His interest He was born into a prominent and intellectually gifted and socially active family.

His interest in architecture was sparked by the Tuskegee Institute staircase. After he graduated from high school at 13 his pursued architecture. He received his A.B. from Harvard College in 1955 and earned his Master of Architecture from the Graduate School of Design in 1958. His Harvard academic accomplishments were undeterred by cross-burning in front of his dorm and his professors’ routine verbal admonishment over his professional pursuits due to his race. As did he and many before him, Mr. Bond Jr. rose to the top of field; one in which Blacks have represented less than one percent of architects in the United States. His focus, brilliance and leadership led to his becoming one of the most prominent Black architects in the country.

After Harvard, he won a Fulbright scholarship to apprentice under the direction of architect André Wogenscky in Tunisia and France. Bond returned to New York for four years to serve with prestigious firms like Gruzen & Partners and Pedersen & Tilney. In 1964 he left New York for a three-year assignment in Ghana during which time he worked on government initiatives such as the design of Bolgatanga Regional Library. This building was a departure from the period’s architecture due to simplistic use of natural ventilation and a broad, tabletop-like roof that crowns four volumes.

At the height of the Civil Rights movement in 1967, he returned to New York and became an active participant in social activism which was in line with his family’s legacy. He spearheaded Architects Renewal Committee of Harlem (ARCH), an advocacy-planning entity, that provided residents a platform for their voices. Under his guidance ARCH devised a structured plan to ensure that all Harlem projects were in touch with the needs of all community groups and local institutions.

Initiatives like the ARCH set in motion Mr. Bond’s significant lifelong contributions to increase the visibility of black art and history. In 1969, Bond and his peer Donald P. Ryder founded the practice Bond Ryder & Associates. Their practice became a preeminent African-American architectural firm and achieve acclaim with designs like the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, facilities such as the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in Alabama and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, which has been acknowledged as both a New York City Landmark and a National Historic Landmark since 1981 and 2017, respectively. His forerunning vision applied to establishing Harlem’s Studio Museum in 1982 which initiated New York’s art scene north of Museum Mile. The building was a landmark for Black art until its closure for expansion by David Adjaye. Mr. Adjaye became a collaborator with Mr. Bond Jr. and another Black architect named Phil Freelon to design the National Museum of African American History and Culture in D.C.

Expanding from planning in Harlem to the city, Mr. Bond served on the New York City Planning Commission in the 1980’s. Concurrently he was also the chair of architecture at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture and Planning and became the dean of the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture and Environmental Studies at City College. Spitzer’s research and design center holds his moniker as does the southeast corner of West 162^nd Street and St. Nicholas Avenue.

His intimate knowledge and historic contributions to the skyline and heartbeat of New York earned Mr. Bond Jr. the distinction of spearheading the design of the museum portion of the city’s National September 11 Memorial at the World Trade Center, which officially opened in 2014 after his death. During the 1990’s, he merged his practice with Davis, Brody & Associates and served as partner after his partner Ryder retired. The firm’s current name is Davis Brody Bond.

In 2008, his response to being awarded the medal of honor by the New York chapter of AIA included several words of wisdom. He stated, “It’s important for us, yes, to appreciate innovation, and recognize genius, but we should also question the deification of what I call Neoformalism. We should advocate for an outreaching, inclusive architecture, that responds forthrightly to the social, ecological, and cultural issues of this time, and for our grandchildren’s future.” In 2020, his comments are just as relevant.

Upon his death in 2009, Mr. Bond’s stature as the most significant black architect in New York during the 20th century whose portfolio emphasized education and civil rights is uncontested.