J. Max Bond Jr. Lecture | Portrait Unveiling

Please join the American Institute of Architects New York chapter (AIA New York) and the Harvard Club of New York House Committee as we honor the life and work of architect J. Max Bond Jr., FAIA. Remembered as an authoritative and gentlemanly presence, Bond served as lead architect for the Harvard Club of New York's 2000 extension to 35 West 44th Street, balancing the Club's need for modern space with the historic character of the original clubhouse.

The evening will open with the 2026 J. Max Bond Annual Lecture delivered by architectural historian Brian D. Goldstein, author of Max Bond: The Life and Work of the People’s Architect (Princeton University Press, 2026). Goldstein will be joined by former colleagues, collaborators, and friends including Mary Schmidt Campbell, Peter Cook, Peggy King Jorde, Mary McLeod, Richard Gonzalez, Shawn Rickenbacker, Nandinee Phookan, LeAnn Shelton, and Stephen M. Wilder. 

Born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1935, Bond entered Harvard College in 1951 where he endured a period of intense racial reckoning on campus and stayed on to complete his Master's coursework at Graduate School of Design in 1958. After graduation, Fulbright took him to Paris, where he apprenticed under André Wogenscky in Le Corbusier's studio; he then worked at several New York firms before moving to Accra, Ghana in 1964, teaching in Kumasi and designing the passively cooled Bolgatanga Regional Library, an engagement he counted among his most pivotal.

Back in New York from 1967, he co-founded Bond Ryder & Associates with Donald P. Ryder in 1969, which in 1990 merged with Davis, Brody & Associates. He worked across various type and scale in a progressive modern idiom including urban housing, the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations, Columbia's Audubon Biomedical Science and Technology Park with its restoration of the Audubon Ballroom. Bond championed dignity in the city's public realm as director of the Architects' Renewal Committee in Harlem in 1967 to 1968 and on the New York City Planning Commission from 1980 to 1986. A generous mentor to generations of academic architects, he chaired Columbia's architecture division, then became dean at City College. Amongst his best-known works are monuments to African American history including the Martin Luther King Jr. Center in Atlanta, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, as well as the Schomburg Center and the Studio Museum in Harlem. At his death in 2009, he was partner in charge of the museum at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum.

The Lecture will conclude with the unveiling of a portrait of J. Max Bond Jr.—the first commissioned for permanent display at a Harvard-affiliated institution. The portrait commission recognizes Bond’s enduring legacy and the broader, complex histories represented within Harvard’s institutional story. Portrait artist Gustavo Ramos will discuss the inspiration and artistic intentions behind the painting.

Opening Remarks:
Mary Schmidt Campbell, President Emerita, Spelman College

Keynote:
Brian D. Goldstein, ‘04, MA ‘09, PhD ‘13, Associate Professor, Swarthmore College; Author, Max Bond: The Life and Work of the People’s Architect

Panel:
Richard Gonzalez, AIA, Principal, Richard Gonzalez Architect, PLLC; President, AIA Westchester & Hudson Valley Chapter
Peggy King Jorde, Principal, King Jorde Cultural Projects Consulting; Harvard Loeb Fellow
Mary McLeod, Professor of Architecture, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, Columbia University
Nandinee Phookan, AIA, Principal, Nandinee Phookan Architects
LeAnn Shelton, Esq., AIA, General Counsel and Director of Business Affairs, Rockwell Group

Moderator:
Shawn Rickenbacker, NOMA, ULI, Director, J. Max Bond Center for Urban Futures, City College of New York; Associate Professor of Architecture, Spitzer School of Architecture

Introduction to Portait:
Peter Cook, FAIA, NOMA, Design Principal, HGA

Portrait Unveiling:
Gustavo Ramos, Artist

Closing Remarks:
Stephen M. Wilder, AIA, NOMA, Principal, Think Wilder Architecture; President, New York Coalition of Black Architects; Commissioner, NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission