Louis Hudson Persley (c.1888–1932),^[1][2] was an American architect.^[3] Persley became the first African American to register with the new Georgia State Board of Registered Architects on April 5, 1920.^[1][3] He was part of what was possibly the nation’s first black architecture firm, Taylor and Persley, a partnership founded in July 1920 with Robert Robinson Taylor.^[3][4][5] He had several spellings of his name including Louis Hudison Persely,^[4][3] Lewis H. Persley,^[6] and Louis Pursley.^[7]

Louis Persley was born and raised in Macon, Georgia, to Black parents Maxine and Thomas K. Persley.^[3][7] He attended Lincoln University, and graduated from Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) in 1914. He was a professor of architectural and mechanical drawing from 1915 until 1916 at Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama.^[4][3]

In July 1920, Persely and fellow architect Robert Robinson Taylor had formed a black architecture firm together, Taylor and Persley.^[4][8] This was possibly the first black architecture firm in the United States.^[5] They collaborated on many designs, including of several buildings on Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) campus.

He died on July 13, 1932, at the age of 42, of kidney failure,^[4][7] and he is buried at Linwood Cemetery in the Pleasant Hill neighborhood of Macon, Georgia. A historical marker commemorates him in front of the First AME Church in Athens, Georgia.^[9] Persley's profile was included in the biographical dictionary African American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary, 1865–1945 (2004).

• First African Methodist Episcopal Church (1916) in Athens, Georgia^[10]
• Campbell Chapel A.M.E. Church (1920) in Americus, Georgia; listed on the National Register of Historic Places^[11][12]
• Chambliss Hotel (1922), Macon, Georgia^[4]
• Colored Masonic Temple (1922; or 'Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge') in Birmingham, Alabama; for the Free and Accepted Masons^[13][14][15]
• Central City Funeral Home (1928), Cotton Avenue, Macon, Georgia^[4]
• Samaritan Building, Athens, Georgia (demolished)^[6]
• Dinkins Memorial Building at Selma University, Selma, Alabama; with Robert Robinson Taylor^[16]
• Masonic Temple in Birmingham, Alabama; with Robert Robinson Taylor^[16]
• Several buildings on the campus of Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama; with Robert Robinson Taylor^[17]
  • James Hall Dormitory (1921), Tuskegee Institute^[7]
  • Sage Hall Dormitory (1927), Tuskegee Institute
  • Logan Hall Dormitory (1931), Tuskegee Institute
  • Armstrong Science Building (1932), Tuskegee Institute^[7]
  • Hollis Burke Frissell Library (1932), Tuskegee Institute^[7]

• African-American architects
• McKissack and McKissack, another early Black architecture firm