Thomas Wilson Boyde Junior’s fingerprints are all over Rochester.

“He was Rochester’s first African American architect, and in fact, one of the first African American architects to own his own firm in the entire country,” said Kathryn Santos of the Rochester Museum and Science Center.

Santos says he designed the Strathallan Hotel on East Avenue and the Kennedy Towers on South Plymouth Avenue.

“He was really a detailed thinker. He really excelled at art from an early age — and was great at math and design and engineering," Santos said. "But you can see the care that he took to put in the detail in these drawings.”

And Cynthia Howk with the Landmark Society of Western New York says he designed hundreds of homes throughout the city and surrounding areas, like a lakefront home on Edgemere Drive in Greece.

“He really excelled at residential design and he got commissions," Howk said. "The fact that he was employed as a single-office architect — he wasn’t part of a firm, he was self-employed.”

But perhaps he’s most known for his hand in helping to design the Monroe Community Hospital.

“It’s a dazzling experience to see it up close.” Howk said.

The project actually brought him to Rochester in the 1930s.

“He answered an ad from the New York Times and so when he came for the interview Mr. Firestone said, 'Mr. Boyde you didn’t tell me you were black,'" said Santos. Boyd responded, 'You advertised for an architect,'" said Howk.

What exactly he’s responsible for designing is still debated today, but Boyde did spend some time in Italy and those influences can be seen at the hospital.

“The tile roofs, the gargoyles, the use of beautiful brick and colored masonry in the tiles, that is hugely influenced by the kind of architecture you would see in the Lombard region of Italy,” Howk said.

But while an artist for sure, experts agree he should be remembered as a trailblazer for future architects to this day.

“If you imagine what he must have gone through to break these barriers, I mean he was a really exceptional person and I think his example is very inspiring,” said Santos.