Martha Cassell Thompson

Martha Ann Cassell Thompson (1925–1968), was an American architect. She was a member of the prominent Cassell Family of African-American architects; and was the chief restoration architect for the Washington National Cathedral.

Early life and education

Martha Ann Cassell Thompson was the second child of Albert Cassell, an architect, and Ann Mason Cassell, a Baltimore public school teacher. She and her sister Alberta Jeannette Cassell were the first two African American women to graduate with a bachelor of architecture from the university.

Career Thompson, from 1949 to 1951, worked for an architectural firm in St. Louis. After which, she worked with architect Philip Hurbert Frohman (1887-1972) at the firm Frohman, Robb, & Little in the District of Columbia. She was also one of the only women architects on the team responsible for the completion of the project. She worked on the project from 1959 to 1968.

Martha Cassell Thompson was also a skilled pianist, and organized the Social Services Committee for the YWCA.

Personal life In 1948 Martha Cassell married Dr. Victor Thompson, who was a medical student at Meharry Medical College. They had one child, Karen Thompson, in 1949, who trained at Illinois Institute of Technology and became the third generation of architects. Martha Cassell Thompson died in 1968, and is buried at the Lincoln Memorial Cemetery, Suitland, Maryland.