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32-480: The Belgian Building was designed by Belgian architects Victor Bourgeois and Leon Stynen with Henry van de Velde directing the project. It was done in the International Style and was intentionally constructed entirely of materials of Belgian origin in a symbolic gesture of the exhibition's home. The red tiles and black slate that comprise the structure's exterior were sourced from Flanders and

64-579: A historically Black institution in Richmond, Virginia , ultimately won the prize due largely to both its need for the facility as well as having a suitable location to place it. The gift of the $ 700,000 building still required significant fundraising by the school, as the process of disassembly in New York, transport, and reconstruction in Richmond was expected to cost $ 800,000. The move was overseen by

96-480: A "socialist". Robert Lee Vann supported Republican Wendall Willkie against President Roosevelt in 1940. After achieving prominence as the head of the Courier , Vann served as Special Assistant to U.S. Attorney General Homer Cummings from 1933 until 1935. Largely neglected and even ill-treated (staff stenographers often refused to take dictation from him because he was black), Vann could not get an appointment to see

128-721: A 2022 addition of 13 more bells and as of 2022 was operational in Stanford's Hoover Tower . In 2004, a fundraising effort began with the goal of acquiring new bells for the Belgian Building tower. Three years later, it was announced that the Belgian government had offered to purchase and donate a set of four bells from The Verdin Company . During the building's gradual reconstruction on the Virginia Union campus in

160-422: A dedicated printing plant, and wide circulation. Vann stirred up controversy and 10,000 new readers by hiring George Schuyler in 1925, whose editorials and opinions made him famous as the "black H.L. Mencken " (who was a Courier subscriber). Under Vann, the Courier also worked as a tool for social progress. Most significantly, the paper extensively covered the injustices on African Americans perpetrated by

192-743: A house for the Weissenhof Estate exhibition in Stuttgart , and the following year Bourgeois was a delegate to the first meeting of the Congrès international d'architecture moderne and a founding member of that organization. He died on 24 July 1962 in Ixelles . Bourgeois's first important architectural work was a group of houses in the Rue du Cubisme in Koekelberg (Brussels Region), showing

224-466: A lawyer and public figure. As editor, Vann wrote editorials encouraging readers to only patronize business that paid for advertisements in the Courier and ran contests to attempt to increase circulation. In his Christmas editorial at the end of 1914, Vann wrote of the paper's intent to "abolish every vestige of Jim Crowism in Pittsburgh." In the 1920s, Vann made efforts to improve the quality of

256-616: Is entombed at Homewood Cemetery , Allegheny County, Pennsylvania . The Liberty Ship SS Robert L. Vann was launched on 10 October 1943 in Portland, Maine , with his widow Jessie Matthews Vann attending the launch. The ship was hit by an underwater mine on March 1, 1945 and sunk. Records show the entire crew survived. A Pennsylvania State historical marker is placed at the corner of Center Avenue and Frances Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, noting Vann's accomplishments. The former Robert L. Vann Elementary School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,

288-553: The Ardennes , respectively, and the plate glass that features prominently at the site came from the Walloon Region . The facility was one of the few built for the world's fair that was intended to exist beyond that event's completion. It covers approximately 100,000 square feet (9,300 m) and was constructed in an irregular U-shape. Large spaces occupy opposite ends of the U with a smaller partitioned section connecting

320-626: The First World War . The exhibition made headlines in June 1940 when the building lost power during a display of $ 2,000,000 worth of precious gems . The women modelling the jewels – guarded by heavily-armed security – were rushed to a secure area until the lights came back on 45 minutes later. In May 1940, the pavilion closed abruptly, which was likely a result of the German invasion of Belgium earlier that month. It reopened days later but without

352-683: The Houston Riot and Vann's allegations that James Weldon Johnson embezzled money for personal use from the NAACP and the Garland Fund . This disharmony was resolved in 1929 by published apologies by Vann, Du Bois, and Johnson, and within the decade, Du Bois became a regular Courier contributor. But in 1938, Vann's Courier ended up at odds with the NAACP once again. Vann, through national campaigns and contact with President Franklin D. Roosevelt pursued inclusion of African-American units in

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384-608: The Pittsburgh Courier was formally incorporated, with Vann handling the legal details. During the summer, the paper grew from four to eight pages, but struggled with circulation and financial solvency due to a small market and lack of interested advertisers. In the fall of 1910, original founder Edwin Nathaniel Harleston left the paper for financial and creative reasons, and Vann became editor. The Courier under Vann prominently featured Vann's work as

416-900: The Pullman Company and supported the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters . Vann wrote to gain support for causes such as improved housing conditions in the Hill District, better education for black students, and equal employment and union opportunities. However, Vann often used his Courier editorials to publicly fight with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and W. E. B. Du Bois over issues such as President Calvin Coolidge 's grants of clemency to black soldiers involved in

448-586: The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 . In 1932, Vann officially put the Courier behind the party realignment of African Americans. He urged readers to vote for Democrats , writing, "My friends, go home and turn Lincoln 's picture to the wall." This was at a time, 1932, when the Democrats were running on a platform of lower taxes and Franklin Roosevelt was denouncing Herbert Hoover

480-539: The United States Armed Forces . Vann saw this as an achievable step on the path to integration of the military, but the NAACP leadership, primarily Walter White, publicly disagreed with this half-measure, despite the protests of Thurgood Marshall . As a result of the Courier ′s influence and Vann's political clout, New York Congressman Fish successfully added an amendment prohibiting racial discrimination in selection and training of men drafted to

512-545: The 1940s, it served as a processing station for the United States Army. Roughly 160,000 soldiers passed through the facility by 1947. The bas reliefs carved into the tower proved controversial around this time; some felt the depiction of the Belgian Congo glorified colonialism , and concerns about the figures' nudity resulted in shrubs being planted to shield the art from the street. The Belgian Building

544-557: The Attorney General and in fact may never have met the man while in Washington. Vann resigned in 1935 to return to the Pittsburgh Courier ; by 1938 the paper was the largest American black weekly, with a circulation of 250,000. In 1939, Vann founded Interstate United Newspapers, Inc., an agency formed to sell advertising to the black press. Vann's widow succeeded him as president of Interstate United Newspapers. Vann

576-472: The Belgian architect Dr. Hugo van Kyuck, and the African American architect Charles Thaddeus Russell supervised the reconstruction of the building on the Virginia Union grounds. The same group of Belgian contractors who erected the building in New York went to Virginia to execute the task there. The Belgian Friendship Building was chosen as the facility's name once on the Virginia Union campus. It

608-634: The Grand Prize at the Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes in 1925 and brought him international attention. Today it is said to be in poor condition and awaiting proper renovation. Robert Lee Vann Robert Lee Vann (August 27, 1879 – October 24, 1940) was an African American newspaper publisher and editor. He was the publisher and editor of the Pittsburgh Courier from 1910 until his death. He

640-575: The United States in advance of its construction for the 1939 New York World's Fair . The Belgian ambassador to the United States laid the structure's cornerstone at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in 1938. The pavilion opened at the fair in May 1939. Former president Herbert Hoover was the guest of honor at the opening night dinner, and was praised for his humanitarian efforts in Belgium during

672-485: The bar examination in 1909 and married Jessie Matthews from Gettysburg , Pennsylvania , on February 17, 1919. Vann was one of only five black attorneys in Pittsburgh in 1910, a city with more than 25,000 African Americans. In early March 1910, Vann drew up incorporation papers for the Pittsburgh Courier and began writing contributions. Through Vann's connections, the paper was able to attract wealthy investors, including Cumberland Willis Posey Sr. On May 10, 1910,

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704-601: The direct influence of the Dutch modernists. His largest project was built between 1922 and 1925 in Sint-Agatha-Berchem (Brussels Region) for a cooperative for social housing , the Cité moderne included 275 units. Each of them are oriented towards the sun, with a private garden, and were designed for low-cost construction with the use of reinforced concrete, an experimental technique at the time. The building style of

736-544: The houses and small apartment houses was strictly unadorned, white with colored trim, with right angles and flat roofs, an early example of the modernist style. The entire district was planned by urban planner and landscape architect Louis Van der Swaelmen, intended to promote coexistence and solidarity between people, as well as provide for their safety. The names attributed to the streets and squares highlight these intentions: Foundation Street, Stewardship Street, Evolution Street, and Initiative Place. The project earned Bourgeois

768-488: The news included in the growing paper. Under Vann, the "Local News" section of the Courier covered the social lives of the upper- and middle-class members of Pittsburgh's Hill District. This included accounts of vacations, marriages, and parties of prominent families and the goings on of local groups, such as the Pittsburgh Frogs . Vann legitimized the Courier with a professional staff, national advertisements,

800-409: The previously displayed bust of King Leopold III , which was ordered removed from the exhibition by the Belgian government following the king's capitulation to Germany. The king's surrender prevented the building's planned return to Belgium following the conclusion of the fair. The Belgian government in exile sponsored a competition to determine the building's new home. Virginia Union University ,

832-402: The southwest corner of the structure, was named after Robert Lee Vann , a Pittsburgh-area publisher and alum of Virginia Union. Originally a music tower, it held a 35-bell carillon during its time at the fair. However, those bells were donated by the Belgian government in 1941 to former president Hoover, who in turn gave them to his alma mater Stanford University . The carillon was augmented by

864-542: The two. A 161-foot-tall (49 m) tower rises over the southwest corner of the building. The tower's base features two Art Deco bas relief panels representing the culture of the Belgian Congo . A third panel elsewhere on the building's exterior depicts Belgian trade . The Belgian Building's existence began in Belgium itself, where the structure was originally constructed before being taken apart and shipped to

896-602: Was a Belgian architect and urban planner, considered the greatest Belgian modernist architect. Bourgeois was born in Charleroi and studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels from 1914 through 1918, and was mentored by Henry van de Velde . Together with his brother Pierre Bourgeois, he founded several magazines, including 7 Arts (1922–1928). In 1927 Bourgeois became the only Belgian invited to design

928-677: Was born in Ahoskie , North Carolina , the son of Lucy Peoples and an unknown father. He graduated as valedictorian of Waters Training School in Winton, North Carolina , in 1901, and attended Wayland Academy and Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia , from 1901 to 1903. He then attended the University of Pittsburgh (then known as the Western University of Pennsylvania), and graduated from its law school in 1909. He passed

960-426: Was eventually rebuilt largely as it appeared in New York and adapted to the university's needs, though fund shortages necessitated the complex to be constructed in phases. The auditorium portion of the facility was converted to a gym , while the opposite end became a library with a 94,000 volume capacity. The connecting portion of the structure became science-related classrooms and laboratories. The tower, located on

992-478: Was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. In 1994, the building's tower underwent a $ 300,000 restoration. It was repaired again after suffering damage from Hurricane Isabel in 2003. Following Virginia Union's late 1990s construction of a separate library facility named for former student and later Virginia governor Douglas Wilder , the previous library space in the Belgian Building

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1024-519: Was occupied by the school's music and arts programs. In 2019, Virginia Union received a $ 500,000 grant to assist in renovations and repairs to the building. The gym, by then known as Barco-Stevens Hall, received improvements that included an upgraded HVAC system. While there had been plans to build a dedicated athletic center for the school, as of 2022, the renovated facility still hosted the school's collegiate basketball games. Victor Bourgeois Victor Bourgeois (29 August 1897 – 24 July 1962)

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