The large, frame Colonial Revival residence was built on a large estate in the countryside near Salisbury. It was begun for Mr. and Mrs. James Francis Griffith in 1930 or 1931, but with the onset of the Great Depression, the Griffiths defaulted on a mortgage and halted construction in 1932. The property was sold at auction in 1933 to Jesse Lewis Sowers. At that time, Lazenby had completed the exterior and the slate roof, but the interior was only partially finished, with plastering and other work remaining to be done. Sowers completed the interior finishing over a period of several years. The 1930 plans and specifications survive in private hands. Percy Bloxam (1888-1943) was an English-born engineer who worked for a time with Charlotte architect Willard G. Rogers; Bloxam was in Salisbury by 1923 and with Rogers designed at least three buildings for Catawba College before moving to Roxboro, N. C. (see: Davyd Foard Hood, Griffith-Sowers House National Register of Historic Places nomination).