{{Short description|American architect (1854–1929)}} {{Infobox person | name = William Augustus Hazel | other_names = W.A. Hazel | birth_date = {{Birth date|1854|09|12}} | birth_place = Wilmington, North Carolina, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1929|02|13|1854|09|12}} | death_place = Massachusetts, U.S. | occupation = Architect, stained glass artist, educator, academic administrator, civil rights activist | spouse = Rosa Elizabeth Grosvenor Hazard (m. 1882–) | children = 5 }} '''William Augustus Hazel''' (1854–1929) was an American architect, stained glass artist, educator, academic administrator, and civil rights activist.<ref name="Wilson">{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Dreck Spurlock |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0OaSAgAAQBAJ |title=African American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary, 1865-1945 |date=March 2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-95629-5 |pages=273–278 |language=en |chapter=William Augustus Hazel}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Ashmore |first=L.D. |date=1993-10-17 |title=Building A Past |pages=91 |work=The Montgomery Advertiser |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-montgomery-advertiser/62401384/ |access-date=2023-07-27}}</ref> He was the first dean of the Howard University School of Architecture in 1919.<ref name=":1" /> He is considered an important figure in the architectural history of the Twin Cities in Minnesota;<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hall |first=Phil |date=2019-09-18 |title=Exhibit, discussion shine light on pioneering black architects |url=https://spokesman-recorder.com/2019/09/18/exhibit-discussion-shine-light-on-pioneering-black-architects/ |access-date=2023-07-27 |website=Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder |language=en-US}}</ref> and was one of the first Black stained glass artists in the United States.<ref name="Wilson" />
== Early life and education == William Augustus Hazel was born on September 12, 1854, in Wilmington, North Carolina, to free Black parents Margaret Ann Kellogg and Benjamin Gilette Hazel.<ref name="Wilson" /> His father had apprenticed with carpenter William Kellogg, another free Black person who later became his father-in law.<ref name="Wilson" /> After the marriage, the Hazel family moved to Ohio; and after the American Civil War they moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts.<ref name="Wilson" /> His father Benjamin Gilette Hazel worked as a carpenter and wheelright, and his mother Margaret Ann Kellogg took care of their home and children.<ref name="Wilson" /> Hazel attended public schools in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he excelled at fine art.<ref name="Wilson" />
In 1872, Hazel apprenticed under John La Farge, a French-born stained glass craftsman.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Weiss |first=Ellen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XGYKEFz8Cd0C&pg=PA256 |title=Robert R. Taylor and Tuskegee: An African American Architect Designs for Booker T. Washington |date=2012-01-01 |publisher=NewSouth Books |isbn=978-1-58838-248-1 |pages=256 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Southern |first=David W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uHr7k5iNUi4C&pg=PA37 |title=John Lafarge and the Limits of Catholic Interracialism, 1911–1963 |date=1996-07-01 |publisher=LSU Press |isbn=978-0-8071-1971-6 |pages=37 |language=en}}</ref> While appreciating, they worked on the stained glass at the Trinity Church (1873) in Boston.<ref name="Wilson" /> Starting in 1875, Hazel worked as a draftsman under architect Samuel J. F. Thayer, while living at 67 Cushing Street (later 125 Cushing Street, no longer extant) in the College Hill neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island.<ref name="Wilson" /><ref name="nrhpdoc">{{cite web |author= |date=September 14, 1976 |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: College Hill Historic District |url={{NRHP url|id=70000019}} |accessdate=September 5, 2023 |publisher=National Park Service}} With {{NRHP url|id=70000019|photos=y|title=accompanying pictures}}</ref> He was married in 1882 to Rosa Elizabeth Grosvenor Hazard at the Mathewson Street Methodist Church in Providence, Rhode Island.<ref name="Wilson" /> Hazel continued apprenticeship under architect Charles Dexter Gambrill, formerly of the firm of Henry Hobson Richardson.<ref name="Wilson" /> During this time his wife Rosa was working as a teacher in the "Butler Demonstration School" at the Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) in Hampton, Virginia.<ref name="Wilson" />
== Career ==
=== Minnesota === In January 1887, Hazel arrived in Saint Paul, Minnesota as a salesman for Tiffany and Company of New York, which caused a local stir because was uncommon to see Black artists and designers in that city during that time period.<ref name="Wilson" /> He was invited to speak at local stained glass events in Minnesota.<ref name="Wilson" /> The family moved to 1122 Raymond Avenue in the Saint Anthony Park neighborhood of Saint Paul.<ref name="Wilson" />
In the spring of 1887, he was denied accommodation at two hotels (the Clarendon Hotel and Astoria Hotel) in Saint Paul based on his race; so he sued them based on the Minnesota Civil Rights Act of 1885.<ref name="Wilson" /> He won the high profiled lawsuit, which brought him more attention from the Black community.<ref name="Wilson" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=African Americans in Minnesota {{!}} MNopedia|url=https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/african-americans-minnesota|website=www.mnhs.org|access-date=2026-01-29|language=en|first=Tina|last=Burnside|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260124111728/https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/african-americans-minnesota|archive-date=2026-01-24}}</ref> In 1881, Hazel was elected as the secretary for the Civil Rights Committee in Minnesota.<ref name="Wilson" />
In 1888, Hazel worked under architect Francis Jefferson Roberson on Saint Peter's African Methodist Episcopal Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota; the records were not kept but it is known he worked specifically on the architectural design.<ref name="Wilson" />
=== Stained glass work === In 1895, he had his first stained glass commission for a Catholic church newly built in Austin, Minnesota, the church has since been demolished.<ref name="Wilson" /> Saint Peter's African Methodist Episcopal Church in Springfield, Illinois hired Hazel to design 34 stained glass windows and contained images of Abraham Lincoln, John Brown, Elijah P. Lovejoy, and the "Grand Army" featuring a bust of General Ulysses S. Grant; unfortunately this church experienced a fire in 1903 and none of the windows survived.<ref name="Wilson" /> In 1897, he won a silver medal in decorative arts at the Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition in Nashville, for his drawings and stained glass window depicting Jesus Christ.<ref name="Wilson" />
=== Tuskegee Institute, Howard University, and Frederick Douglass National Historic Site === In 1909, he joined the faculty in the mechanical industries department at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in Tuskegee, Alabama.<ref name="Wilson" /> While teaching he supervised the design and build of five buildings on campus (boys trade buildings), working alongside architect Albert Cassell.<ref name="Wilson" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Jessie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OcHSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT191 |title=Encyclopedia of African American Business [2 volumes] |date=2017-11-27 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=979-8-216-04284-6 |pages=191 |language=en}}</ref> He remained at the school for a decade.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mitchell |first=Melvin L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ihoc1YctF64C&pg=PA40 |title=The Crisis of the African-American Architect: Conflicting Cultures of Architecture and (Black) Power |date=2003 |publisher= iUniverse|isbn=978-0-595-24326-6 |pages=40 |language=en}}</ref>
In the summer of 1919, following the departure of the Howard University's School of Applied Arts and Mechanics department dean William Jefferson Decatur, Hazel was hired as his replacement and charged with the establishment of creating the School of Architecture.<ref name="Wilson" /><ref name=":2" /> He designed the department library, dining hall, and home economics building (now demolished).<ref name="Wilson" />
The Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association and Rev. Francis Grimke commissioned Hazel to restore the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site (or "Cedar Hill"), Washington, D.C.<ref name="Wilson" /> The restoration was completed in 1922, and is believed to have been the first historic architectural preservation project by a Black architect in the United States.<ref name="Wilson" />
=== Later life === In 1924, Hazel moved to 1724 Christian Street in south Philadelphia, living only two blocks from Black architect Julian Francis Abele.<ref name="Wilson" /> He remained there until 1927, when his health started failing and he moved to the Cardinal Gibbons Institute in Ridge, Maryland to join his family.<ref name="Wilson" /> Hazel died of a heart attack on February 13, 1929, and was buried in Cambridge Family Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.<ref name="Wilson" />
Hazel's profile was included in the biographical dictionary ''African American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary, 1865–1945'' (2004).
== Works == * 1888, St. Peter's AME Church, 22nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues South, St. Paul, Minnesota (demolished) * 1895, Austin Catholic Church, Austin, Minnesota; stained glass windows only (demolished) * 1899, St. Paul's AME Church, 6th and Mason Streets, Springfield, Illinois; stained glass windows only (destroyed in a fire) * 1914, New Hope Rosenwald School, near Fredonia, Alabama; NRHP-listed<ref name="nrhpdoc2">{{cite web |author= |date= |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: New Hope Rosenwald School |url={{NRHP url|id=01001297}} |accessdate=August 11, 2025 |publisher=National Park Service}} With {{NRHP url|id=01001297|photos=y|title=accompanying pictures}}</ref> * 1915, Emory School, near Greensboro, Alabama; NRHP-listed<ref name="nrhpdoc3">{{cite web |author= |date= |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Emory School |url={{NRHP url|id=98000109}} |accessdate=August 11, 2025 |publisher=National Park Service}} With {{NRHP url|id=98000109|photos=y|title=accompanying pictures}}</ref> * 1919, Mount Sinai School, Prattville, Alabama; NRHP-listed<ref name="nrhpdoc4">{{cite web |author= |date= |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Mount Sinai School |url={{NRHP url|id=01001296}} |accessdate=August 11, 2025 |publisher=National Park Service}} With {{NRHP url|id=01001296|photos=y|title=accompanying pictures}}</ref> * 1921, Home Economics Building, Howard University campus, Washington, D.C. (demolished) * 1921, Dining Hall, Howard University campus, Washington, D.C. (demolished) * 1922, Frederick Douglass National Historic Site ("Cedar Hill") restoration, 1411 W Street SE, Washington, D.C.
== See also == * African-American architects * Samuel L. Smith (1875–1956) American architect that also worked on the design of Rosenwald schools
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hazel, William Augustus}} Category:1854 births Category:1929 deaths Category:19th-century African-American educators Category:19th-century American educators Category:African-American academic administrators Category:African-American architects Category:African-American artisans Category:19th-century American artisans Category:American stained glass artists and manufacturers Category:Howard University faculty Category:People from Wilmington, North Carolina Category:People from Cambridge, Massachusetts Category:Tuskegee University faculty Category:19th-century American architects Category:20th-century American architects Category:African-American history of Minnesota