built 1920 capers c.m.e. church nashville ; built in 1925 morris memorial building nashville ; built in 1925 st. john s baptist church miami ; built in 1940 mckissack & mckissack is an american architecture and engineering firm based for many years in nashville tennessee and now based in new york city and washington d.c. founded in 1905 it was the first african american owned architectural firm in the united states and is the oldest minority owned architecture and engineering firm in the country . 1 2 contents 1 history 2 works 3 references 4 external links history edit the firm was founded by brothers moses mckissack iii may 8 1879 december 12 1952 and calvin lunsford mckissack february 23 1890 march 2 1968 natives of pulaski tennessee . their father and grandfather were trained builders . moses mckissack entered the architecture trade by working as an apprentice to a builder in pulaski who hired him in 1890 to assist with architectural designs drawings and construction work . his formal education was obtained at the pulaski colored high school . calvin mckissack was educated at barrows school in springfield massachusetts and fisk university in nashville which he attended from 1905 to 1909 . both brothers obtained architectural degrees through a correspondence course . 1 2 3 between 1895 and 1905 moses mckissack built houses in decatur alabama and mount pleasant and columbia tennessee . in 1905 he received a commission to build a new house for the dean of architecture and engineering at vanderbilt university in nashville . he opened his first architectural office in nashville and quickly picked up additional jobs designing and building other homes in the west end . the firm s first major project was design of the carnegie library on the fisk university campus . this is a two story classic revival building constructed from brick with a stone columned porch featuring an interior light well ; its cornerstone was laid in 1908 by william howard taft then the u.s. secretary of war . 1 2 3 major projects designed by moses mckissack during the 1910s included the main campus building for the turner normal and industrial school for negroes in shelbyville tennessee and dormitories for roger williams university in nashville and lane college in jackson tennessee . by 1920 moses mckissack had acquired design clients throughout nashville . between 1918 and 1922 he designed more than one dozen residences in nashville and belle meade largely in the colonial revival style . 1 calvin mckissack who had worked with his older brother in nashville started an independent practice in dallas texas in 1912 specializing in the design and construction of dormitories and churches . in 1915 he returned to tennessee becoming superintendent of industries and a teacher of architectural drawing at the tennessee agricultural and industrial state normal school . three years later he joined the faculty of pearl high school as director of the industrial arts department and later became first executive secretary of the tennessee state association of teachers in colored schools . 3 after tennessee instituted a registration law for architects in 1921 the mckissack brothers became two of the first registered architects in the state . 1 3 moses granddaughter cheryl said in an interview that state licensing authorities were reluctant to let the brothers take the licensing exam but decided to allow it based on the expectation that they would fail . after they passed easily the state authorities balked at giving them licenses but relented after reports of the situation were published in national news media . 4 in 1922 calvin mckissack resigned his job with the teachers organization and the brothers established the partnership of mckissack & mckissack . in 1924 the national baptist convention u.s.a inc. hired the firm to design the morris memorial building to house the nashville offices of the denomination s sunday school publishing board . after the building was completed in 1925 the mckissack firm moved its offices into that building where they remained for many years . 1 3 in 1927 the mckissacks designed the main library of tennessee state university in nashville . during the 1930s they received works progress administration contracts for design of several public school buildings in the city including washington junior high school on nineteenth avenue north demolished pearl high school and ford green school . 1 around 1940 the firm began to expand outside tennessee . architectural licensing boards in some other states were skeptical of the qualifications of black architects . tennessee authorities responded to their concerns with a statement that mckissack and mckissack was ... somewhat unique in the fact that it is one of the few negro architectural firms in the country and had done some creditable work in nashville including several large school buildings running into a total cost of several hundred thousand dollars . the firm received licenses from alabama in 1941 and from georgia south carolina florida and mississippi in 1943 . 1 in 1942 the mckissack won a 5.7 million u.s. federal government contract to design and build tuskegee army airfield 5 home to the tuskegee airmen s 99th pursuit squadron in tuskegee alabama . at the time this was the largest federal contract ever awarded to a black owned company . 1 3 2 the successful on time completion of the project brought positive attention to the company including one writer s observation that no racial friction occurred in the work force of 1 600 of whom about three fourths were black and one fourth white . 1 3 during the 1940s the firm also designed several public housing projects around the country and moses mckissack was appointed to president franklin roosevelt s white house conference on housing problems . in 1942 the brothers were awarded the spaulding medal recognizing the outstanding negro business firm in the u.s. 1 3 moses mckissack iii died on december 12 1952 ; mckissack middle school in nashville was named in his honor in 1954 . 1 6 calvin mckissack remained with the firm until his death in 1968 . 3 william deberry mckissack the youngest son of moses iii then succeeded his uncle as president of the firm . 3 2 after suffering a stroke he retired due to illness 3 7 and his wife leatrice buchanan mckissack became chief executive officer . 8 under her leadership the firm won major contracts for new buildings and renovations at the fisk university tennessee state university and meharry medical college campuses in nashville as well as a 50 million renovation project for howard university in washington d.c. and design of the national civil rights museum in memphis . 2 7 mckissack & mckissack opened an office in washington d.c. in 1990 headed by deryl mckissack one of the three daughters of william and leatrice mckissack . 2 offices in chicago and los angeles were opened in 2002 and 2008 respectively . the firm s operations in nashville were terminated in 2002 with spin off companies headed by william and leatrice mckissack s daughters continuing in other cities . 9 as of 2013 the family owned successor companies were reported to have more than 150 professional staff members and over 15 billion in projects . 2 corporate headquarters of mckissack & mckissack corporate are in new york city ; other offices are in birmingham alabama ; bridgeport connecticut ; memphis and philadelphia . 10 cheryl mckissack daniel twin sister of deryl mckissack heads the new york operations . 4 the washington d.c. unit headed by deryl mckissack is a separate business that also has offices in chicago miami and baltimore . 11 works edit as of 1975 mckissack & mckissack had completed over 3 000 building projects including about 2 000 churches . 1 several buildings designed by moses mckissack calvin mckissack or the mckissack & mckissack firm are listed on the national register of historic places nrhp . 1 12 among the firm s notable buildings are a.m.e. publishing house eighth avenue south nashville . art deco ; demolished in the 1970s . bastian residence 3722 central avenue nashville . 1921 . bridgeforth high school 1095 bledsoe rd. pulaski tennessee . nrhp listed . cameron school 1034 first ave. s nashville tennessee . nrhp listed . capers c.m.e. church 319 15th ave. n. nashville tennessee . completed in 1925 . nrhp listed . carnegie library 17th ave. n. fisk university campus nashville . 1908 . nrhp listed . c.m.e. publishing house jackson tennessee . 1931 . art deco ; demolished in the 1970s . comer residence 1411 eastland avenue nashville . 1920 . d.r. glass library at texas college 2404 n. grand ave. tyler texas . nrhp listed . house residence 340 chesterfield nashville . 1919 . george hubbard house 1109 first avenue south nashville . colonial revival built in 1920 . nrhp listed . morris memorial building 330 charlotte ave. nashville tennessee . completed in 1925 . nrhp listed . pearl high school 613 17th ave. n nashville tennessee . nrhp listed . national civil rights museum memphis . president s house at texas college 2404 n. grand ave. tyler texas . nrhp listed . sexton residence 3506 byron avenue nashville . 1921 . st. john s baptist church 1328 n.w. 3rd ave. miami florida . nrhp listed . taborian hospital us 61 jct . of mcginnis st. mound bayou mississippi . nrhp listed . universal life insurance company 480 linden ave. memphis tennessee . nrhp listed . references edit a b c d e f g h i j k l m n national register of historic places inventory nomination form mckissack and mckissack buildings in nashville 1908 1930 thematic resources pdf . national park service 1985 . november 21 1984 . archived from the original pdf on october 15 2012 . a b c d e f g h mckissack & mckissack . at & t tennessee african american history calendar . at & t. july 2013 . retrieved january 4 2014 . a b c d e f g h i j k wynn linda t. mckissack and mckissack architects 1905 . tennessee state university . retrieved january 4 2014 . a b marino vivian february 12 2013 . interview cheryl mckissack daniel . new york times . homan lynn m. ; thomas reilly 2001 . black knights the story of the tuskegee airmen . pelican publishing . p. 31 . isbn 9781455601257 . moses mckissack middle school . metropolitan nashville public schools . retrieved january 4 2014 . a b leatrice mckissack national visionary . national visionary leadership project . retrieved january 4 2014 . sources disagree on the date of his retirement . the at & t tennessee african american history calendar gives it as 1975 while the national visionary leadership project gives it as 1983 . daverman richard may 1 2002 . mckissack & mckissack historic african american architecture firm files chapter 7 . nashville post . firm overview program management & construction management experience pdf . mckissack & mckissack corporate . retrieved january 4 2014 . history . mckissack & mckissack dc . retrieved january 4 2014 . national park service 2010 07 09 . national register information system . national register of historic places . national park service . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to buildings by mckissack & mckissack . mckissack & mckissack corporate new york mckissack & mckissack washington dc mckissack and mckissack architects tennessee encyclopedia of history and culture retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title mckissack % 26 mckissack & oldid 709348539 categories architecture firms based in tennesseeafrican american architectscompanies based in nashville tennesseecompanies established in 1905lists of african american historic placespeople from giles county tennesseehidden categories commons category with local link same as on wikidatanrhp architects navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction