Charles Bryant (j. 1962; d. 2005) and his wife, Waveney’s, youngest daughter, Shelley, was christened by Rev. James Reeb in 1963. Bryant served the congregation in a range of ways, including serving as Board president and stints as a lay leader and member of the investment and building committees.
He was a prolific architect and principal in Bryant & Bryant, one of the oldest Black-owned firms in the country. In 1976, the then-50-person company was cited in Black Enterprise Magazine as the largest African-American-owned firm in the nation and one of the top-ranked Black-owned businesses in the nation based on annual revenue.
During Bryant’s 45-year career, the firm designed commercial office buildings, shopping centers, rapid transit stations, wastewater treatment plants, public firehouses, libraries, hospitals, convention centers, schools, recreation centers, and churches. Under his leadership, the firm designed and supervised construction of the 1,800-student replacement campus for the old Dunbar High School in Washington, which the city’s Fine Arts Commission singled out for its innovative motif. It also was lead design architect for the $100 million University of the District of Columbia campus in Northwest Washington. His work also includes Howard University’s Cancer Research Center and the 800-unit Howard Plaza apartments.
Bryant received a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Howard University in 1954 and served in the Air Force as an engineering officer at Sculthorpe Air Base in England. In 1991, Mr. Bryant was inducted into the College of Fellows in the American Institute of Architects.
American Institute of Architects Member Appreciation of Charles Bryant. Washington Post Charles Irving Bryant Sr. biography.