Walter T. Bailey

Walter Thomas Bailey (January 11, 1882 – February 21, 1941) was an American architect from Kewanee, Illinois. He was the first African American graduate with a bachelor of science degree in architectural engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the first licensed African-American architect in the state of Illinois. He worked at the Tuskegee Institute, and practiced in both Memphis and Chicago. Walter T. Bailey became the second African American that graduated from the University of Illinois.

Early life and education Walter Thomas Bailey was born January 11, 1882, in Kewanee, Illinois, where he attended Kewanee High School. He earned that degree in 1904 and was granted an honorary master's degree in architecture from the university in 1910. On October 15, 1905, Walter T. Bailey married Josephine L. McCurdy. In the same year, Josephine gave birth to their first born, Edyth Hazel. Seven years later they gave birth to their second child, Josephine in 1913.

Architectural career Bailey was the first licensed African-American architect in the state of Illinois. Initially, after he graduated, Bailey worked for a small architectural firm owned by Henry Eckland in his hometown of Kewanee.

The Overton Hygienic Building on South State Street. Bailey's first Chicago office was on the second floor. Through his Knights of Pythias connections, Bailey was given what would be the largest commission of his career, the National Knights of Pythias Temple in Chicago, Illinois. Construction began on the building in 1924 and Bailey moved his office to the city. The site of the temple was on Chicago's south side in an area known as "Bronzeville" or "Black Metropolis". Construction on the National Knights of Pythias Temple proceeded slowly and by 1928 the interior of the building remained unfinished. The Knights of Pythias Temple was demolished in 1980. A large decorative fragment from the building, an Egyptian pharaoh in glazed terra cotta, probably designed by Baily to celebrate black pride, is conserved in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Aside from the Knights of Pythias Temple in Chicago Bailey had few major commissions during the 1920s and the subsequent Great Depression greatly decreased business for Bailey and many other black entrepreneurs in the area. The building served as both a church and a radio station for Reverend Clarance Cobbs to broadcast sermons.

Death

Bailey died on February 21, 1941, in Chicago, from pneumonia and complications caused by heart disease. Obituaries at the time stated he was working on two projects when he died. One was the Olivet Baptist Church, the other was reportedly the Ida B. Wells Homes but that work was probably in a secondary capacity.

Selected works 1905 – Colonel Wolfe School, Champaign, Illinois 1906 – Alabama Agricultural Fair Negro Building, Montgomery, Alabama 1910–1915 – First Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama 1922 – Mosaic State Temple Building, Little Rock, Arkansas 1922–1923 – Pythian Theater Building, Little Rock, Arkansas 1923 – Pythian Bath House and Sanitarium, Hot Springs, Arkansas 1924 – Fraternal Savings and Trust Bank, Memphis, Tennessee 1924 – Knights of Pythias Building, Nashville, Tennessee 1924 – Woodmen of Union Bath House, Hot Springs, Arkansas 1924–1928 – National Knights of Pythias Temple, Chicago, Illinois 1928 – Momence Country Club, Momence, Illinois (plans only) 1929 – Mt. Moriah Lodge No. 28 Free and Accepted Masons, Evanston, Illinois 1939 – First Church of Deliverance, Chicago, Illinois 1940 – Ida B. Wells Homes, Chicago, Illinois 1941 – Olivet Baptist Church, Chicago, Illinois