Snapshot: Norcell Dan Haywood
Undated image of Haywood with O’Neil Ford, courtesy of Ford, Powell & Carson.
Norcell Haywood in 1972. (Henry, Jesse Jr. “The Community Architect Concept.” San Antonio Express/News, Sunday, 17 September 1972, p. 10-G.)
Norcell Dan Haywood, born in Bastrop in 1935, was an architect who helped shape San Antonio’s modern aesthetic. In 1960, he became the second Black person to graduate from The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture (after John Chase, who we highlighted last week). He briefly taught at Texas A&M Prairie View before moving back to Austin by 1961 to work in the city’s planning department. In 1963, he began work with O’Neil Ford’s firm, and in 1968, after becoming the first licensed black architect in San Antonio, he founded his own firm, Norcell D. Haywood & Assoc. In 1971, he formed Haywood Jordan McCowen with colleagues Willie C. Jordan and Lee E. McCowan. The trio had offices in San Antonio, and in Houston and Dallas. By 1980, HJC operated here from a Haywood-designed office at 1221 S WW White.
In a 1972 article, Haywood said “[Minority architects] should be able to beneficially serve their profession and community at the same time without having to serve one at the expense of the other.” He created spaces for San Antonio’s historically Black Eastside intended for community use, such as Second Baptist Church (1968), Antioch Missionary Baptist Church (1974), SAPL’s Carver Branch (1973), and the Claude Black Community Center (1975). He designed and built the Second Baptist Arms Apartments (1973, now Palms Apartments) and Alpha Tau Omega’s Roseville Apartments (1971). He also designed the 1968 RCA Pavilion at HemisFair and Brackenridge High School (1974).
Haywood as a member of the Sphinx Club, a school architecture group. From The Cactus, the yearbook of The University of Texas at Austin, 1958.
Haywood was named by President Clinton to the White House Sub-Committee on Small Business in 1995. In 1997, he earned two accolades: he won the Bank of America San Antonio Black History Chronicles Trailblazer Award and was an honoree for the Texas Legislative Black Caucus Outstanding Texans at Large. Rep. Ruth McClendon gave him a commendation during the 75th Texas Legislature, writing, “Norcell Haywood has enhanced the quality of life in San Antonio and Dallas in countless ways, and his exceptional commitment is a source of inspiration to all who are privileged to know him.”
Haywood passed away in San Antonio on June 15, 2015.
