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Amaza Lee Meredith

Amaza Lee Meredith (August 14, 1895 – January 1984) was an American architect, educator and artist. Meredith was unable to enter the profession as an architect because of "both her race and her sex" as an African-American woman, and worked primarily as an art teacher at Virginia State University (then Virginia State College / Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute), where she founded the art department. ^[1] She is best known for her residence, Azurest South, where she and her partner, Dr Edna Meade Colson, resided together. Moreover, she co-founded the Azurest Syndicate Inc., a vacation destination for black middleclass Americans on Sag Harbor, Staten Island NY. ^[2] As an educated black woman, Meredith is a rare example of financially and socially independently living black woman in the time of Jim Crow Segregation Laws. ^[3]

Early Life and Family

Meredith was born in Lynchburg, Virginia as a daughter of Samuel Peter Meredith and Emma Pink Kenney. She had 3 siblings, two sisters and a brother. To her older sister Maude, Meredith kept a life-long good relationship. Because Her father was white and her mother was black her parents were prohibited by anti-miscegenation laws from marrying in Virginia. ^[2] In Amaza Lee Meredith’s birth certificate, she is only identified as Emma Kenney’s daughter, the name of the father is left out. Nevertheless, Samuel Meredith cared about his family and built them a house in which he moved in as well some years later, as well as supporting them financially. ^[3] Eventually, her parents traveled to Washington, D.C. in racially separated railroad-cars to get married and finally moved in together afterwards. Not long after that, her father began to lose business as a result of the controversial marriage and was soon in dept. He committed suicide in 1915. ^[2] Despite the difficult family-life in an interracial family, both parents had great influence on Meredith. Her father, a carpenter taught her how draw blueprints and built models and instilled the wish in her to become an architect. Her mother who worked as a seamstress before having her children, believed in education as the key against a racist public opinion. She was relatively highly educated herself and a convincing engaged woman, as she built the local network of support at Lynchburg’s Eight Street Baptist church, which was a center for female politic and social activities. She supported her children’s education by sending them to college. ^[3] It was there when Amaza Lee Meredith met her future companion Dr. Edna Meade Colson, with whom she held correspondence during her whole vocational education and later moved in with in their shared home “Azurest South”. Although it is not quite clear (and not very likely given the time they lived in) weather they lived as an openly homosexual couple, it I save to say that their relationship was committed and loving. ^[3] Both Meredith and Colson where honorary member of the Gillfield Baptist Church. They lived together until Meredith died in 1984 and are buried alongside each other in Petersburg, Virginia, at Eastview Cemetery. All in all, Amaza Lee Meredith maintained a modern, self-sufficient lifestyle despite the social barriers that she had to overcome. ^[4]

Education

Amaza Lee Meredith’s educational journey started with her attending the Lynchburg elementary public schools.

Despite having no formal training in architecture, Meredith designed many homes for her family and friends in Virginia, New York and Texas. Her first building was Azurest South, which was completed in 1939 and was designed completely by Meredith in International Style. She and her partner, Colson, moved in together after its completion and it would be their primary residence for the rest of their lives.^[2][3][6] Azurest South is considered a rare example of Virginia's International Style and displays her interest in avant-garde design. Meredith also used Azurest South as her own art studio. She was active in documenting her lifestyle and accomplishments at Azurest through photographs. The archived documentation and remains of Azurest have inspired intersectional research on race, queerness, and spatial design during the Jim Crow Era. Also, she used her aesthetic and artistic talent to coordinate color schemes and draw blueprints for several campus buildings. For example she worked with the Alumni House Committee from 1949 on, proposing the creation of an Alumni House. After her proposals were turned down, she decided to give half of Azurest South to the Alumni Association after her death, hoping it would be used as an Alumni House, as it actually is today.^[2][7] Meredith also worked as an advisor of interior decoration on the local better homes Committee.^[3] In 1947, Meredith started developing a 120-lot subdivision in Sag Harbor called Azurest North together with her older sister Maude. Azurest North was created as a vacation destination for middle class African Americans. In order to develop Azurest North, the two sisters and other developers formed a group, called Azurest Syndicate, which worked to create an African American leisure community. Lots were sold to investors who built cottages in Sag Harbor.^[2][7] Meredith designed at least two of these cottages. Terry Cottage, which belonged to her sister Maude Terry and was built in 1949 was designed with similar formal aspects like Azurest South. Edendot, which belonged to her friends Ed and Dot Spaulding was a Prairie style building. ^[5][8] Following her retirement, she took a post as the official secretary of the Azurest Syndicate Inc.^[4]

Other Achievements

Meredith was also an inventor. In 1955, she received a patent for an accessory to be attached to a golf bag. And she developed the “Kant Drop”, a top that can be attached to any recyclable container.^[4][5] She continued to design buildings and paint throughout the 1960s. Some of her artwork was exhibited in Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and in galleries in New York and North Carolina., some is still displayed in the Gillfield Baptist Church or hangs in residents’ homes.^[7] In the 1970s, Meredith designed logos to be used for a proposed name change for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).^[5]

Buildings

• Amaza Lee Meredith, Edna Meade Colson “Azurest South”, 1939, Ettrick Virginia -
• Richards, Dr. F.F. “Hillside”, 1946, Sag Harbor NY
• Virginia State University Alumni House, 1949, Ettrick Virginia – plan only
• Spaulding, Dorothy “Edendot”, 1951, Sag Harbor NY
• Terry, Maude “HIHIL”, Sag Harbor NY
• Johnson, Dr. James H, 1954, Ettrick, Virginia
• Preston, Ann C. “Anndot”, 1956, Prairie View
• Gillfield Baptist Church Education Building, 1964, Petersburg Virginia
• Parker, Evelyn L., 1975 - Plans only
• Reed, Ettrick – Plans only

References

Azurest South

Azurest South was the home and workplace of

Amaza Lee Meredith first started designing her home in the late 1930s. In 1938 she drew all the blueprints and several axonometries of the house. Despite having no formal architectural education, Meredith drew her plans with an experienced eye for shape, material, and detail. Skills she learned from her father, who was a craftsman. Hence having a great interest in constructional details, she documented the construction process in several photographs, as well as her later live in the home.^[1]

After completion, Meredith and her partner moved in, and Azurest South would remain their residence for both of their lives. Pictures show gatherings of with friends, students or other faculty members in the garden or the living room. Such open doors were not without risk for a homosexual couple in the early 20^th century, but neither Meredith nor Colson would keep their relation and living situation a secret. Like that, the home was a place of comfort and privacy and at the same time public life for the two women.^{[1] [2] [3]}

As well as a place to live Azurest South was a place to work as Meredith included a studio in the home. Here she worked on other architectural efforts and had a laboratory space for experiments with color and material. ^[4]

After trying to establish an Alumni House for the National Alumni Association of the Virginia State College without success, Meredith finally decided to give half of her home to the National Alumni Association after her death. Eventually, after Edna Meade Colson died in 1985 the association purchased the remaining halt of the building and Azurest South is today used as the official V. S. U. Alumni House.^{[1] [5]}

In 1993, Azurest South was added to the National Register of Historic Places and in 1994 to the Virginia Landmarks Register.^[2]

Location

Azurest South is located on the eastern edge of the

The land has once been used agricultural and was later of industrial importance due to the adjacent city Petersburg.^[10]

Architecture

Exterior

The single-story residence Azuret South is held in modest size. Its appearance is dominated by horizontal lines and a geometric yet not symmetric structure. Clean lines and curved walls with glass brick accents are brought into a coherent composition and the buildings outside has a smooth stucco finish.^{[10] [2] [1][9]}The house has a carport and a garage as well as a roof terrace, which is surrounded by a turquoise painted metal pipe as a handrail. The terrace is reached by a steal pipe ladder, also painted in turquoise. The carport roof is held in the same color, to which Amaza Lee Meredith referred as “Azurest Blue”, hence the buildings name.  This color provides a contrast to the remaining building, all painted in white.^[2][9][8][3] The building is reached by two entrances. One opens to the north side, towards the public and is guided by a slate flagstone footpath, the other one to the garage and carport.^[10]

Interior

The modest the outside of Azurest south is in color and material, the varied is the inside.

The five rooms, arranged around the central living space content a bright variation of pattern and color with patterned wallpapers, floors and ceilings and vivid lighting elements.^[2][9] The interior design shows the architects profound interest in modern furnishing and artwork as well as a familiarity with materials and details.^[1][4] The organization of the rooms too, expresses Meredith’s understanding of space. The living room, as the central element is one of the most important rooms. Of equal importance are only the two bedrooms, placed on the southside of the composition. These two evenly sized rooms rather than a master’s bedroom show the occupants opposed attitude toward the existing patriarchal system in their emancipated same sex relationship.^[3]

The more functional rooms are placed on the northside. A kitchen and a studio space for Meredith are arranged next to the houses main entrance.^[10]

The kitchens walls are covered with a tile surface of an African American aesthetic, and the room opens to the outside through a large industrial-type window.^[3][7] The living room, that has a similar window is endowed with a modern fireplace, covered by a comfortable seating set. The mantle and shelves are decorated with framed photos and decorative objects like a west African statue as well as a large radio. Also placed in the living room was a large dining table with a matching set of chairs, which shows how the room was of private and public importance.^[3][10] Amaza Lee Meredith’s Studio, that would later be converted into a private space for Edna Colson had a large Metal bas-relief frieze on the wall. Designed by one of her students and entitled “My Lady’s Boudoir” the artwork showed stylized African women.

The integration of a studio space into the home, first in a proper studio room, later in the renovated garage of the house, shows the new understanding Meredith’s of the work-life-relation and the family and the overlaps of private and public live at Azurest South.^[10][7]

All in all Amaza Lee Meredith’s and Edna Meade Colsons home was shaped by a broad understanding of modern architecture as well as contemporary interior design. The strong relations between the inside and outside and the bold decorative choices created a “middle-class intellectual ambience” with the comfort of a private nest and an inviting character for those welcomed at Azurest South.^[3][8]

International Style and Inspiration

Azurest South fits to many aspects of the international style. For example, Meredith’s forward-thinking attitude was undisputed, as part of an unconventional family and relationship. In Azurest South this notion is for instance expressed in the built-in garage and carport, which intend the use of an automobile, quite unusual for two African American women in that time. Also, Azurest South displays a break with the conservative architectural environment of Virginia.[10] Yet, the living ideas that shaped Azurest South’s interior do not quite fit the International Style or the vision of Le Corbusier. Here, the “machine for living” turns away from symbolic interior decoration elements to a clear and neutral space.^[3] In Azurest South, those elements are what makes the home personal and private and are therefore an important part of the design concept.

Significance

As an avant-garde designed building in a traditional environment like Virginia, Azurest South displays its architects’ courage to express a controversial idea to a public audience. Here, the location right next to one of the state’s first Colleges for African Americans is an aspect, that should not be underestimated. As home to two African American women and work of one of the view African American architects of the time, it expresses African American culture and design. Trough the cultural background of Amaza Lee Meredith as an African American Woman and Architect, Azurest South can also be seen as the manifestation of ambition and realization of oneself in one’s work.^[4] Building and owning a home was neither standard for African Americans nor for woman and was thought of as a key step towards racial liberation.^[10] Also, it brought the feminist architectural articulation in America to a new kind of environment in the rural Virginia.^[8]

Still, in the time it was constructed, Azurest South was more an oddity than an icon. Its discovery and appreciation only followed about 40 years later, when historians first found it to be the profound expression of a progressive way of thinking and living.^[3]