Louis Edwin Fry Sr.

Louis Edwin Fry Sr. was born on January 10, 1903, in Bastrop, Texas. His parents were Pleasant Ann and Henry Bowers Fry, he had one older brother. and M.S. architecture (1929); and later returned to classes at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design, where he received a M.Arch. degree (1945). In 1927, Fry married Obelia E. Swearingen from Kansas City. Together they had two children; Louis Jr., who became an architect, and Gladys-Marie, an academic of folklore. == Career ==

After graduating from Kansas State University's undergraduate program in 1927, Fry worked at Prairie View State College in Prairie View, Texas teaching engineering and math. Fry left Tuskegee after receiving an offer in 1940 as campus architect from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri. Fry finished designing the campus master plan working alongside Charles Edgar Dickinson. He took a sabbatical and enrolled in Harvard University's Graduate School of Design in 1944, working under Walter Gropius. When he graduated in 1945, he was the first Black graduate from the master's degree program in architecture. He briefly worked under Marcel Breuer as a draftsman, before returning to Lincoln University. From 1947 until 1972, Fry worked as faculty at Howard University in Washington, D.C., while maintaining his private architectural practice (which included designing for other school campuses). Howard Hamilton Mackey Sr. served as the department chair at Howard University during his hire. Fry worked in helping the department achieve accreditation. He maintained his private architectural practice as a sole proprietor until 1954, when Fry partnered with John Austin Welch to form Fry & Welch. Fry & Welch designed 16 campus buildings in 5 states, and roughly a third of the campus for Tuskegee Institute. The partnership lasted until 1969. In 1960, his son Louis Jr. joined his firm and helped him design in Washington, D.C. Throughout his career he maintained teaching at the college level. In 1967, Fry was named a fellow by the American Institute of Architects (AIA). He was a member of the Washington, D.C. Board of Examiners and Registrar. == Death and legacy ==

Fry died from viral pneumonia on June 10, 2000, at the Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.. Fry mentored hundreds of African American architecture students. Fry's profile was included in the biographical dictionary African American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary, 1865–1945 (2004). The Kansas State University, Morse Department of Special Collections contains an archive named Louis Fry (folder 21). == Awards ==

• 1966, Distinguished Service Award, Kansas State University • 1995, Centennial Award, American Institute of Architects D.C. Chapter == Work ==

Campus-based design work == Bibliography ==