Howard Hamilton Mackey

Howard Hamilton Mackey Sr., (1901–1987), was an American architect, painter, educator, and academic administrator. For 50 years he worked at Howard University, from 1924 until 1973; including serving as the department head, and associate dean.

Early life and education Howard Hamilton Mackey was born on November 25, 1901, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Black parents Anna Willis and Henry Bardon Mackey. In 1936, he took a teaching sabbatical to work on a master's degree at the University of Pennsylvania. He also was a U.S. delegate to a Pan-American housing conference in Bogotá, Colombia. Mackey was a chairman of the D.C. Board of Zoning Adjustments, a member of the D.C. Board of Architectural Examiners, and he served on the National Capital Planning Commission's committee on Landmarks of the Nation's Capital. Additionally, Mackey was a painter and exhibited his artwork at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Howard University Gallery of Art, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

In 1925, he married Matilda Eleanor Kendricks, and together they had one son. His son, Howard Jr. also worked as an architect. Mackey died on August 20, 1987, in the hospital in Washington, D.C., from pneumonia, a complication of Parkinson's disease.

Mackey's profile was included in the biographical dictionary African American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary, 1865–1945 (2004).