East Orange architect Edward Bowser Jr. is not widely recognized, but his buildings are hard to forget. Their glass walls, flat roofs and minimalist design stand apart and invite comparisons to Frank Lloyd Wright.
That makes sense, given that he apprenticed with the preeminent architect of his time, Le Corbusier, a pioneer of modern architecture who designed the United Nations headquarters in New York and other famous buildings.
Bowser was the first African American architect to work with the renowned French modernist, and among the first Black architects to work in New Jersey. But the road to becoming an architect wasn’t easy for him. According to his brother, Robert, New Jersey would not test him for an architectural license, so instead he took a national exam through the National Institute of Architects and got the highest score in the country.
