ROBERT P. MADISON INTERNATIONAL - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

ROBERT P. MADISON INTERNATIONAL, INC., an architectural firm founded in 1954 by Robert P. Madison and his brothers, Julian and Bernard. A Cleveland native, Robert P. Madison was the first AFRICAN AMERICAN to earn an architectural degree in the state of Ohio and the first African American graduate of the WESTERN RESERVE UNIV. School of Architecture in 1948. He earned his Master's degree under the guidance of Walter Gropius at Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 1952 and spent the next year at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris as a Fulbright Scholar. Robert Madison left his academic appointment at Howard University in 1954 and returned to Cleveland with his family to launch the first black-owned architectural firm in the state of Ohio. His younger brothers, Julian and Bernard, both graduated from the School of Architecture and Engineering at Howard University and joined their older brother's firm in Cleveland. The three brothers were partners in the Madison, Madison, and Madison Architects and Engineers before Bernard departed for Baltimore in 1970 to start his own business and Julian left Cleveland in 1983 to oversee the company's branch offices in Detroit, Milwaukee, and Chicago. The firm was rechristened Robert P. Madison International, Inc. in 1970 following Bernard's departure. With five branch offices outside of Cleveland, the company was one of the largest minority-owned architectural and engineering firms in the United States.

The major projects executed by Robert P. Madison International, Inc. over the decades include the United States Embassy in Dakar, Senegal; the Engineering and Nuclear Facility at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama; a 220-unit housing development in Detroit; the state of Ohio Computer Center in Columbus; the Science and Research Center at CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY; the GREATER CLEVELAND REGIONAL TRANSIT AUTHORITY Waterfront Line; the Continental Concourse at the CLEVELAND-HOPKINS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT; the Frank J. Lausche State Office Building in downtown Cleveland; and transit stations in Miami, Atlanta, Chicago, and Houston. The firm also collaborated closely with national companies working on prominent local projects such as the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM, the GREAT LAKES SCIENCE CENTER, the Louis Stokes Wing of the CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY, and the CLEVELAND BROWNS STADIUM. In addition to its commercial ventures, the firm trained nearly 200 African-American architects, engineers, and planners since its inception and Robert Madison launched the Robert P. Madison Scholarship in Architecture for African Americans in cooperation with the CLEVELAND FOUNDATION. The offices of the company were located at 2930 Euclid Avenue.