Hilyard Robert Robinson

Hilyard Robert Robinson (December 3, 1899 – July 2, 1986) was an American architect, teacher, and engineer. He was a prominent early Black architect in the United States, and influenced a generation of students.

Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Robinson graduated from M Street High School in 1916, part of its last class. He enlisted in the 167th Brigade of the Army's Field Artillery Branch, where he toured Europe during World War One. Returning home, Robinson graduated from Columbia University in 1924 with a degree in architecture, later obtaining a master's from the same university. He went on to design several pieces, including the Langston Terrace Dwellings from 1935 to 1938. According to one historian, Robinson's "enduring contribution is a significant body of architecture that conveys his distinctly rational and human interpretation of Modernism". He died at Howard University Medical Center in 1986.

Early life Hilyard Robert Robinson was born on December 3, 1899, in Washington, D.C., to Michael and Elizabeth Robinson. According to census data, Michael was a private in the U. S. Army; Hilyard's grandfather owned a barbershop where Hilyard shined shoes. When Hilyard's father died, Elizabeth took a job as a seamstress and moved him to his grandmother's house in Foggy Bottom.

Robinson graduated Thaddeus Stevens School and from M Street High School in 1916, part of its last class. He then studied at the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Arts (now University of the Arts, Philadelphia) for one year, majoring in Commercial Art, before joining the 167th Brigade of the Army's Field Artillery Branch.

Military service and life as an architect

During World War I, Robinson served as a U.S. Army artillery officer where he spent time in Paris at the Armistice and observed the style of the buildings there. Upon his return to the United States, Robinson transferred to the University of Pennsylvania before eventually graduating from Columbia University in 1924 with a degree in architecture and working for several architectural firms and teaching at Howard University.

The Langston Terrace Dwellings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.

Notable works

Aberdeen Gardens (Hampton, Virginia) (1934) Langston Terrace Dwellings (1935–1938) Ralph Bunche House (Washington, D.C.) (1941) George Washington Carver dormitory (1942), Howard University, Washington, D.C.; with Percy C. Ifill Liberian Centennial Victory Exposition (1945–1947), Monrovia, Liberia; with Percy C. Ifill Arthur Capper/Carrollsburg (1958) Multiple Howard University buildings (Cramton Hall, the Ira Aldridge Theater, the School of Engineering, the Home Economics Building (now School of Human Ecology), Locke Hall) Cherry Hill Public Housing, Baltimore, Maryland (1945)