Robert Rochon Taylor (April 12, 1899 – March 1, 1957) was an American housing advocate and banker. A founder of the Illinois Federal Savings and Loan, a mortgager for black residents of Chicago's South Side, Taylor was the first black member of the Chicago Housing Authority and later its chairman. The Robert Taylor Homes, a public housing project completed in 1962, was named for Taylor.
Taylor was born in 1899 in Tuskegee, Alabama. Taylor was the son of Robert Robinson Taylor, an architect and professor at the Tuskegee Institute, and Beatrice Rochon Taylor, a Louisiana Creole and daughter of a Reconstruction-era state legislator from St. Martinville, Louisiana. He studied architecture at Howard University, then completed his bachelor's degree in business at the University of Illinois in 1925.[1]
First practicing as an architect in Chicago, Taylor began financing real estate projects.[2] In addition to building many single family homes on the South Side, Taylor managed the Michigan Boulevard Garden Apartments, among the first subsidized rental apartments meant to house black residents.[3] The project was financially backed by Sears Roebuck president Julius Rosenwald. In 1934, Taylor became general manager of the Illinois Federal Savings and Loan to support mortgage lending to black Chicagoans.[2][3]
Taylor's successes as a housing financier led to his appointment to the Chicago Housing Authority board in 1938 by Mayor Edward Kelly, who was prodded to do so by economist Robert C. Weaver.[4] Taylor was appointed chairman in 1941 and served until 1950. Working with CHA director Elizabeth Wood, Taylor presided as chair during a period in which more than 92% of new CHA housing units were occupied by black Chicagoans, a marked shift the housing projects of the 1930s built exclusively for whites.[4] He was a strong proponent of scattered-site public housing and desegregation of white Chicago neighborhoods to support black economic mobility.[3]
Taylor resigned after his ideas met resistance from the Chicago City Council.[3][1] After Taylor's death, the Housing Authority named the South Side's Robert Taylor Homes in his memory, at the time the largest single-site housing project ever built.
Taylor married Laura Dorothy Vaughan Jennings, with whom he had two daughters, Lauretta and Barbara.[2] He died March 1, 1957, in Chicago.[2]
^ abModica, Aaron (9 December 2009). "Robert Rochon Taylor (1899-1957)". Black Past. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
^ abcdEvans, Chyla Dibble. "Robert Rochon Taylor". In Wilson, Dreck Spurlock (ed.). African American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary, 1865-1945. pp. 554–557.
^ abcdWeiss, Ellen (2011). Robert R. Taylor and Tuskegee: An African American Architect Designs for Booker T. Washington. Montgomery: NewSouth Books. pp. 137–138. ISBN 978-1-58838-248-1.
^ abHunt, D. Bradford. Blueprint for Disaster: The Unraveling of Chicago Public Housing. University of Chicago Press.
and 24 Related for: Robert Rochon Taylor information
RobertRochonTaylor (April 12, 1899 – March 1, 1957) was an American housing advocate and banker. A founder of the Illinois Federal Savings and Loan,...
Harold Ickes Homes, and Hilliard Homes. RobertTaylor Homes were completed in 1962 and named for RobertRochonTaylor (1899–1957), an African American activist...
scientist Robert Richard Taylor (1932–2008), British public administrator, airport manager and Royal Air Force officer RobertRochonTaylor (1897–1957)...
better now." In 1898, he married Beatrice RochonTaylor. They had four children, one of whom, RobertRochonTaylor, became a noted housing advocate in Chicago...
that her great-grandfather was Jewish. Her maternal grandfather, RobertRochonTaylor, was chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority in the 1940s. As a...
Cabrini–Green Homes Kirby Puckett – RobertTaylor Homes Deval Patrick – RobertTaylor Homes Marvin Smith – RobertTaylor Homes Lou Rawls – Ida B. Wells Homes...
2011</ref> RobertRochonTaylor (1899–1957), housing activist and banker, first black member of the Chicago Housing Authority, namesake of the RobertTaylor Homes...
Robert Robinson Taylor; former government official Valerie Jarrett is the great-granddaughter of Beatrice RochonTaylor. (Etnah Rochon Boutte's first name...
James Gunn, Jim O'Rear, Brinke Stevens, Ken Foree, Stephen Susco, Debbie Rochon, Joe Bob Briggs and blues man Mem Shannon. Savini also briefly took part...
1990 "B.C. authors considered for awards". The Province, 26 May 1983. Lisa Rochon, "Yvon Rivard honored for French-language fiction: Munro wins top literary...
Charlton Heston, Bill Bellamy, Lela Rochon, Aaron Eckhart, Elizabeth Berkley, and NFL players Jim Brown and Lawrence Taylor. It is partly based on the 1984...
Laura Anne Taylor Swain (born November 21, 1958) is the chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District...
Quesnel Pascale Quiviger Mordecai Richler Louis Riel Dominique Robert Suzanne Robert Esther Rochon Adolphe-Basile Routhier Maryse Rouy André Roy Gabrielle Roy...
in New Line Cinema's Above the Rim (1994). Leon also appeared as Lela Rochon's married lover in 1995's Waiting to Exhale directed by Forest Whitaker and...
Reese (screenplay); Chris O'Donnell, Gene Hackman, Faye Dunaway, Lela Rochon, Robert Prosky, Raymond J. Barry, David Marshall Grant, Bo Jackson, Nicholas...
Bridges was portrayed by actress Chaz Monet, and the movie also featured Lela Rochon as Bridges' mother, Lucille "Lucy" Bridges; Michael Beach as Bridges' father...
Lela Rochon, Dennis Quaid, James Earl Jones, David Paymer, Wendy Crewson, Gary Cole, Terrence "TC" Carson, Brad Greenquist, Kool Mo Dee, Robert LaSardo...
Sabàto Jr., Avery Brooks, China Chow, Elliott Gould, Lainie Kazan, Lela Rochon, Sab Shimono, Robin Dunne Music from Another Room Orion Pictures Charlie...
Robert John Burke, Sarah Thompson, Cle Sloan, Thomas Jefferson Byrd, Lela Rochon Fuqua, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Tobias Truvillion, Tawny Cypress, Robert Harris...
Larenz Tate as Frankie Lymon, Halle Berry as Zola Taylor, Vivica A. Fox as Elizabeth Waters and Lela Rochon as Emira Eagle. Why Do Fools Fall in Love was...
all the while being sexually satisfied by family servant Ness (Debbie Rochon). Both Tromeo and Juliet are trapped in cases of unrequited love: Tromeo...
Lauren Holly, Bill Bellamy, Lela Rochon, Aaron Eckhart, Elizabeth Berkley, Marty Wright, Jim Brown, Lawrence Taylor, Clifton Davis, Andrew Bryniarski...