Awards & Honors

On November 19, former CCNY dean of architecture and visionary architect and activist J. Max Bond Jr. (1935-2009) received a quintessential New York honor: The southeast corner of West 162nd Street and St. Nicholas Avenue is now J. Max Bond Jr. Way.

Speaking at the co-naming ceremony, CCNY President Vince Boudreau remembered Bond as “always looking forward and looking back. He sought to educate young people while commemorating the history of struggles and achievement.” CCNY alumnus and NYC Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez hailed Bond as a “great champion of social justice.”

The Spitzer School of Architecture’s current dean, Gordon Gebert, lauded Bond’s leadership of the faculty and the school, commenting, “Max Bond put the City College school of architecture on the map.” Gebert also commended Bond’s deep and enduring commitment to the students. “Bond served as a vivid role model to minority students. He would come to the school nearly every Saturday to visit students at their drafting tables in the design studios in Shepard Hall, offering personalized suggestions and guidance on their design projects and encouraging their efforts to become architects.”

Bond led the architecture school from 1984 to 1992. He is also the namesake of the Spitzer School’s research and design center.