Wallace Rayfield

Wallace Augustus Rayfield (1874–1941), also known as W.A. Rayfield, was an American architect and educator. He was the second formally educated practicing African American architect in the United States.

Early life and education Wallace Augustus Rayfield was born around May 10, 1874 in Bibb County near Macon, Georgia. Rayfield attended schools in Macon, Georgia before moving to Washington, D.C. to live with his aunt after the death of his mother.

Career

Upon graduation, he was recruited by Booker T. Washington to the role Directorship of the Architectural and Mechanical Drawing Department at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in Tuskegee, Alabama. His students included William Sidney Pittman, and Vertner Woodson Tandy.

In 1907, Rayfield opened a professional office in Tuskegee, Alabama from which he sold mail-order plans nationwide. He also advertised "branch offices" in Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile and Talladega, Alabama and Atlanta, Savannah, Macon and Augusta, Georgia. He left Tuskegee Institute and moved to Birmingham, Alabama in 1908 to focus on his young practice. He was elected as Superintending Architect for the Freedman's Aid Society, and Connectional Architect of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.

He died on February 28, 1941.

Notable work Birmingham Art Club (1908), Birmingham, Alabama People's A.M.E. Zion Church (1911), Syracuse, New York T.C. Windham Construction Company Office Building (1912), Birmingham, Alabama Alabama Penny Savings Bank/Knights of Pythian Temple Building (1913), Birmingham, Alabama Antioch Baptist Church (1926), 956 W. 9th Street, Cincinnati, Ohio Trinity Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama Harmony Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama Metropolitan A.M.E. Zion Church, Birmingham, Alabama Ebenezer Baptist Church, Chicago, Illinois St Paul's Episcopal Church, Batesville, Arkansas Trinity Building, South Africa Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Pensacola, Florida Morning Star Baptist Church, Demopolis, Alabama Marlinton Methodist Church, Marlinton, West Virginia Marlinton Presbyterian Church, Marlinton, West Virginia Mt. Pilgrim Baptist Church, Milton, Florida Madame Clisby Residence, Birmingham, Alabama Rocky Springs Presbyterian Church, Laurens, South Carolina First Missionary Baptist Church, Decatur, Alabama Pythian Temple Building, Cotton Avenue, Macon, Georgia St. Luke African Methodist Episcopal Church, Birmingham, Alabama First Congregational Church (now part of Talladega College), Talladega, Alabama Dorms at Haven Institute and Conservatory of Music, Meridian, Mississippi