Aug. 24, 1929 – May 16, 2020
Robert Traynham Coles often told the story of how a teacher at the renamed Hutchinson Central Technical High School dissuaded him from studying architecture because there weren't black architects.
"He was the first black architect I ever knew about, and was a positive role model to me and others who worked under him," said Michael Wright, a senior architect and project manager at University at Buffalo's Facilities Planning and Design.
Coles became, in 1994, the first African American chancellor of the College of Fellows at the American Institute of Architects, an organization that honored him repeatedly with numerous local and state awards recognizing his work on behalf of minority architecture students and graduates.
Other buildings Coles designed include the Joseph J. Kelly Gardens Housing for the Elderly in Buffalo; the Urban Park Housing Development in Rochester; the Providence railroad station; and the Frank Reeves Center for Municipal Affairs in Washington, D.C.
Coles taught as a professor of architecture at the University of Kansas, and later worked as an associate professor of architecture at Carnegie Mellon University.
Coles was also featured in the book "African-American Architects in Current Practice" (Princeton Arch Press), by Jack Travis, an architect and interior design teacher in New York City.
