Join SAH/SCC for a behind-the-scenes look at the exhibition “The Radical Practice of James H. Garrott: Civil Rights Activist and Modern Architect” at The BAg at Bestor Architecture in Silver Lake.

Curator, author, and scholar Anthony Fontenot will lecture about the architecture and activism of James H. Garrott (1897-1991). Garrott was one of the few Black modernist architects in the United States and throughout his career he maintained a steadfast commitment to progressive politics and civil rights activism. He designed hundreds of buildings, including single-family residences, tract housing, schools, civic buildings, libraries, industrial facilities, and medical buildings, as well as 25 churches.

Garrott had no formal training, but in 1928 he successfully completed the Architect Licensure Examination (now known as the ARE), becoming the second licensed Black architect west of the Mississippi River. Among the projects he was involved with—sometimes collaborating with Paul R. Williams (1894-1980) and William E. Young—are the Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Building (1928) and St. Philip the Evangelist Episcopal Church (1929).

Garrott’s allies included Black and white progressives, such as developer/builder Robert E. Alexander (1925-1965), architects and designers Gregory Ain (1908-1988), Charles (1907-1978) and Ray (1912-1988) Eames, Garrett Eckbo (1910-2000), Harwell Hamilton Harris (1903-1990), Reginald D. Johnson (1882-1952), and Richard Neutra (1892-1970), photographers Julius Shulman (1910-2009) and Marvin Rand (1924-2009), and civil rights attorney Loren Miller (1903-1967).

Garrott Exhibition Talk: Saturday, April 13, 2024; 5-7 PM; The BAg, 2030 Hyperion Ave.

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