Description
Architect and painter Hubert Taylor was born in Kilmarnock, VA and studied at the Hampton Institute, earning a B. S. Arch. in 1959. He would later design several buildings on the campus. After graduation, he served in the U. S. Army until 1962.
He began his architectural career in Washington, D. C., where he worked for Faulkner, Fryer & Vanderpool between 1962 and 1968. He then moved to Philadelphia and joined the office of Nolen & Swinburne, and later established his own firm. Taylor joined the national AIA in 1968 and was a member of the Washington-Metropolitan chapter into the 1970s.
Taylor was a founding member in 1983 of Recherche, an African American artists’ group in Philadelphia.
Written by Emily T. Cooperman.
The Hampton University campus has at least 3 buildings designed by Hubert with the Livas Group. He designed the addition to Robin Hood Dell East with SaxonCapers; and he did the Eastwick United Methodist Church on his own. I observed construction of the church for a couple of weeks in 1986 while Hubert was in Denmark with Recherche, but I didn’t see the finished product until I went there for Hubert’s funeral service in 1991. The Eastwick UMC exemplifies Hubert’s great skill as both architect and artist. I was struck by the contrast of the interior’s drama with the exterior’s modesty. The building’s functional, unassuming massing relates beautifully to its neighbors, while contrasting vividly with the delicate proportions of the sky lighted sanctuary.
Hubert Taylor graduated from Hampton University with a degree in architectural engineering and a prodigious apetite for fine art. I met him when I was working for Vic Wilburn and he was with Hugh Zimmer’s firm. Both firms were working on projects for SEPTA. He was project architect for renovation of the 13th Street subway-surface station. I was just starting work on fixing up 3 stations on the Broad Street subway. They were further along so Vic suggested I go talk to them about working with SEPTA. That’s when Hubert told me that the required fine art on his project was being fulfilled by himself! Yes, that porcelain enamel mural still hanging over the tracks at 13th Street was created by Hubert Taylor, architect.
Hubert spent roughly 6 months of the year doing architecture and 6 months doing art. In addition to Zimmers, he had relationships with the Livas Group in Norfolk, VA, and with SaxonCapers in Philadelphia. He also practiced under his own name. He was also part of a Philadelphia group of Black artists – Recherche – that exhibited in the US and Europe.
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