{{Short description|American architect (1930–2016)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Roger Williams Margerum | birth_date = {{Birth date|1930|05|14}}<ref name="FamilySearch" /> | birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, US | death_date = {{Death date and age|2016|06|21|1930|05|14}}<ref name="ChicagoST obit" /> | death_place = Detroit, Michigan, US | occupation = Architect | years_active = 1955–2005 | awards = Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (1984) }} '''Roger Williams Margerum''', {{post-nominals|list=FAIA}} (May 14, 1930 – June 21, 2016), was an African-American architect, known for pioneering modernist design.<ref name="ChicagoST obit" /> He primarily worked in Detroit, and his early work was in Chicago.<ref name="ChicagoST obit" /> Margerum had his own architecture firm, and was also associated with the firms Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Holabird & Root; and Smith, Hyncham & Grylls.<ref name="ChicagoST obit" /><ref name="Beyond">{{Cite web |title=Roger W. Margerum |url=https://www.beyondthebuilt.com/roger-w-margerum |access-date=January 27, 2024 |website=Beyond The Built Environment |language=en}}</ref> He was known for his prototype of an affordable home; a movable structure, built at a 45-degree angle.<ref name="Beyond" />
==Early life and education== Roger Williams Margerum was born on May 14, 1930, in Chicago.<ref name="FamilySearch">{{Cite web |date=May 14, 1930 |title=Roger Williams Margerum, Birth • Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates, 1871–1949 |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2S8-7FRF |url-access=registration |website=FamilySearch.org}}</ref> He was raised on the South side of Chicago, with his mother. At the age of 10, Margerum was enrolled in the Art Institute of Chicago for drawing class on Saturday.
He followed his mother's suggestion to become an architect, and obtained a degree in architecture in 1955 at the University of Illinois.<ref name="Detroit Home" /><ref name="Dow">{{Cite web |last=Dow |first=Bill |date=March 31, 2009 |title=Roger Margerum & the Magic of the 45-Degree Polygon |url=https://detroitdesignmag.com/featured-homes/roger-margerum-the-magic-of-the-45-degree-polygon/ |access-date=January 27, 2024 |website=Detroit Design |language=en-US}}</ref> Margerum went to DePaul University on a track scholarship, and then studied architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.<ref name="ChicagoST obit" />
== Career == As a student he made a speculative approach to Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, who hired him.<ref name="ChicagoST obit" /> He began his career with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, where he was a member of the design team that created modernist buildings for the Air Force Academy campus in Colorado Springs.<ref name="Docomomo">{{Cite web|title=Roger Margerum|url=http://docomomo-us.org/designer/roger-margerum|access-date=October 20, 2021|website=Docomomo US|language=en}}</ref>
In 1974, he opened his own architectural firm, and his clients included the State of Michigan, Ford Motor Company, Detroit Public Schools, and United Airlines.<ref name="Beyond" /> In 1984, Margerum became an American Institute of Architects College of Fellows, the AIA's highest membership honor, for his exceptional work and contributions to architecture and society.<ref name="Docomomo" />
In 2000, after leaving full-time practice, his wife Fran, asked him to design a house for them.<ref name="Detroit Home">{{cite news |last1=Dow |first1=Bill |date=March 31, 2009 |title=Roger Margerum & the Magic of the 45-Degree Polygon |url=https://www.detroithomemag.com/featured-homes/roger-margerum-the-magic-of-the-45-degree-polygon/ |accessdate=January 26, 2024 |work=Detroit Home}}</ref> He had lived in the Lafayette Park neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 14, 1985 |title=Stroh's facility, Roger Margerum |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/84014447/strohs-facility-roger-margerum/ |newspaper=Detroit Free Press |pages=80 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Completed in 2006, Margerum said, "the only way to satisfy myself was to design something architecturally significant. I believe I’ve done that. To my knowledge, no one before has used the 45-degree polygon as a rigid module."<ref name="Detroit Home" />
Margerum died aged 85 on June 21, 2016, in Detroit, due to complications from a stroke.<ref name="ChicagoST obit">{{cite news |last1=O'Donnell |first1=Maureen |title=Pioneering architect Roger Margerum dead at 85 |url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/2016/8/30/18441842/pioneering-architect-roger-margerum-dead-at-85 |accessdate=November 20, 2019 |work=Chicago Sun-Times |date=August 30, 2016}}</ref>
== Buildings == * Dr. Emmet J. Ingram House (1959), 6500 Eberhart, Chicago, Illinois<ref name="Rodkin">{{Cite news |last=Rodkin |first=Dennis |date=March 2, 2018 |title=Modernist home by noted black architect to get rehab |url=https://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20180302/CRED0701/180309964/modernist-house-in-woodlawn-by-roger-margerum-sold |work=Crain's Chicago Business}}</ref> * Libby Elementary School, Chicago, Illinois<ref name="Rodkin" /> * North Austin Library, Chicago, Illinois<ref name="Rodkin" /> * Kettering High School Auditorium (1978), Detroit, Michigan<ref name="Beyond" /><ref>{{cite news |author= |date=November 22, 1978 |title=Kettering addition under construction |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/98642877/ |access-date=November 10, 2021 |work=Detroit Free Press |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> * Roger Margerum House, East 48th Street, Detroit, Michigan<ref name="Dow" /> * 45-Degree Residence (2005), 430 Kitchener Street, Detroit, Michigan<ref name="Beyond" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Mondry |first=Aaron |date=July 16, 2019 |title=Notable buildings in Detroit designed by black architects, mapped |url=https://detroit.curbed.com/maps/best-buildings-detroit-designed-black-architects |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200312175226/https://detroit.curbed.com/maps/best-buildings-detroit-designed-black-architects |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 12, 2020 |access-date=January 27, 2024 |website=Curbed Detroit |publisher=Vox Media |language=en}}</ref>
== See also == * African-American architects
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Margerum, Roger}} Category:1930 births Category:2016 deaths Category:20th-century African-American people Category:21st-century African-American people Category:African-American architects Category:Architects from Chicago Category:Architects from Detroit Category:DePaul University alumni Category:Fellows of the American Institute of Architects Category:Modernist architects from the United States Category:University of Illinois School of Architecture alumni