Albert Irving Cassell was born in Towson, Maryland on June 25, 1895, the third child of Albert and Charlotte Cassell. According to his son, Charles, Albert’s father drove a coal truck and played trumpet in the Baltimore Salvation Army Band. His mother took into washing to supplement the family’s income.
As with many African Americans, Albert’s path to higher education was not easy. To compensate for the shortcomings of the Baltimore public high schools of that era, Albert moved to Ithaca, New York, home of Cornell University, where he enrolled in the city’s high school. He was later admitted to Cornell and earned his way through working as a caretaker for one his professors and singing in church choirs.
His studies were interrupted by service in the US Army in World War I. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the field artillery serving as a training officer in France during 1917 and 1918. Mr. Cassell completed his architectural degree at Cornell in 1919. His career as an architect began in that year when he and William A. Hazel, an architect at Howard, planned the initial architectural and structural designs of five academic buildings at Tuskegee Institute. In 1920, Mr. Cassell joined the Architecture Department of Howard University as assistant professor.
Over the course of the next two decades, Mr. Cassell would make an indelible impression on the university. He would be involved in every aspect of the campus’ physical growth. The campus we see today is the result of his concepts and his dedication to detail and execution.
In 1930 he produced the master plan for the expansion of Howard’s campus. Then, in his capacity as head of the maintenance department as well as professor of architecture, he systematically purchased the land around the early quadrangle in order to execute his master plan for the university. He and William Hazel, as well as his architectural firm, Cassell Gray & Sulton, designed and constructed the substance of Howard’s academic quadrangle. Above and below ground, Mr. Cassell left his mark:
- The Medical School: Dedicated April 9-10, 1928
- The Dining Hall: 1921-1923
- The Gymnasium: Constructed during 1924-26; Groundbreaking Ceremony, March 16, 1924; Dedicated February 26, 1926
- The Stadium: Dedicated February 26, 1926
- Three Women’s Dormitory Buildings: 1929-1931
- The Chemistry Building: Dedicated October 26, 1936
- Power Plant and Underground Power Distribution System: 1934-1936
- Frederick Douglass Memorial Hall, 1936
- The Founders Library: Cornerstone, June 11, 1937; Dedicated May 25, 1939
Three of Mr. Cassell’s most important works, durable contributions to Howard’s academic setting, are the Chemistry Building (1936), Frederick Douglass Memorial Hall (1936), and The Founders Library (1939). Albert Cassell’s masterwork is Howard’s hilltop campus; its jewel is its main Library. Mr. Cassell left Howard University after its completion in 1938. His career is an unequivocal testament to his ingenuity and vision.
When Albert Cassell left Howard in 1938, after the completion of the library, he dreamed no small dreams. Beginning in 1930 and continuing for many years, Mr. Cassell pursued the development of an innovative planned community for African Americans on 500 acres on the shore of Chesapeake Bay. Later, he continued to shape academic communities by designing buildings for Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, and Virginia Union University in Richmond. He designed and built civic structures for the State of Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Mr. Cassell’s commitment to public housing produced the highly respected Mayfair Mansions project and the James Creek Alley Housing Development, both in Washington DC. Howard University and much of the surrounding region are the beneficiaries of Albert Cassell’s legacy, as an architect, an engineer, an entrepreneur and a visionary. His buildings use the timeless power of good design, form and integrity to teach the dynamism of the mind and the value of ideas.