Ferree, Tyson Thaddeus (1904 – 1948)

Tyson Thaddeus Ferree (March 7, 1904 – April 25, 1948) was one of High Point’s principal architects during the 1930s and 1940s, with a practice that extended into other Piedmont communities including Thomasville, Greensboro, Archdale, Burlington, Winston Salem, and Lexington. His work was notable for the wide range of project types he undertook, including residential, commercial, and industrial buildings, as well as theaters, churches, and at least one public housing project. Like many architects of his era, he was skilled in a variety of styles, but he often combined Art Deco and stylized classical elements in mode popular in the 1930s. Despite the brevity of his career and the challenges and interruptions of the Great Depression and World War II, he produced a substantial body of work in the mid-century Piedmont, especially in his home community of High Point, a major manufacturing center known for its furniture factories and textile mills.

Tyson Ferree was born in Randolph County near Asheboro, the son of Calvin Madison and Mary Elma Lamb Ferree. The large Ferree family had been residents of Randolph County for many years. After graduating from Asheboro High School on May 28, 1923, Tyson worked for three years at various jobs including as a draftsman at Wilkins Ornamental Steel Company in Greensboro, where he decided he wanted to become an architect.

In 1926 Ferree entered North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering, where he worked his way through college by designing homes, stores, studios, and theaters. In addition to a heavy class load and outside design projects, he was elected to St. Pat’s, an engineering society for students selected by their grades, interest in the engineering department, and college activities. (At that time, the college’s training in “architectural engineering” was in that department, where many architects obtained their training.)

In an interview carried in the News and Observer of June 1, 1930, Ferree noted that at times his “outside work piled up,” and he worked all night. “Then there would be a lull in work, and he would get caught up on his studies and on rest.” His bank account ranged from $500 down to two cents. But, he said, “Lady Luck’s been kind. Whenever I was broke, I always landed another job. And I feel I got more out of college for being on my own, and I’ve made contacts that have been invaluable. And the fellow that gets the most out of life, is the fellow who is crazy about his job.”

After graduating on June 10, 1930 with a Bachelor of Science degree in architectural engineering, Ferree worked for Greensboro architect W. C. Holleyman, Jr. before receiving his architectural license on March 1, 1933 and opening his own office in High Point. Despite the challenges of establishing a practice in the depths of the Great Depression, Ferree managed to gain numerous commissions, On November 20, 1937 he married Chloe Layton. They had two children, Thaddeus Layton Ferree (b. 1945) and Linda Chloe Ferree (b. 1948).

During World War II Ferree closed his office and went to work with J. M. Pease and Company in Charlotte and for the city of Charlotte as chief building inspector. On April 28, 1943 he joined the Plant Planning division of Fairchild Aircraft Corporation in Burlington, where he resided for a time. When the Fairchild operation closed down, according to his obituary, he returned to High Point and reopened his office in September, 1944, where he practiced for four years until his death at age forty-four in 1948, leaving his widow with their two very young children.

Ferree was active in civic organizations including the Burlington and High Point Lions Clubs, the Chamber of Commerce, NC Association of Architects, and First Methodist Church in High Point. He was buried in the Floral Garden Memorial Park in High Point, as was his widow, who survived him until 2000. His architectural records are held by Special Collections at North Carolina State University Libraries in Raleigh. The building list posted here is selective; many additional projects are included in his architectural collection and project list, including several for which further fieldwork is required to ascertain information for building entries. The project numbers in the building list are from Ferree’s project log in his collection. See https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/findingaids/mc00638.

Benjamin Briggs, The Architecture of High Point, North Carolina (2008)

Tyson T. Ferree Drawings and Papers, MC 00638, Special Collections Research Center, NC State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC.

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  • Barnes-Griffin Clinic

    Contributors:
    Dates:

    1938

    Location:
    Asheboro, Randolph County
    Street Address:

    S. Fayetteville St.

    Status:

    Unknown

    Type:

    Health Care

    Note:

    Ferree Project Number 250.


  • Daniel Brooks Homes Housing Project

    Contributors:
    Dates:

    1941-1944

    Location:
    High Point, Guilford County
    Street Address:

    1431 West Ave.

    Status:

    No longer standing

    Type:

    Residential

    Images Published In:

    Benjamin Briggs, The Architecture of High Point, North Carolina (2008).

    Note:

    Ferree Project Number 505. Tyson Ferree planned the public housing complex of 200 apartments in association with Fred B. Klein. Built for black residents (while the Clara Cox complex was built for white residents), it was named for the Reverend Daniel Brooks, a well-known Methodist minister who negotiated the sale of land that later became William Penn High School. The project opened in 1944. According to Benjamin Briggs in The Architecture of High Point, Ferree patterned the design for Daniel Brooks Homes on nineteenth-century English worker housing, with brick walls, steeply pitched roofs and numerous chimneys (later removed). Briggs notes that its design embodied “social reform ideals of the day and sought to improve the lives of residents by giving “attention to safety, proximity to nature, social interaction, and order.” In this model, housing units had direct access to a network of curvilinear greenways flanked by lawns, shrubs, and trees, which were intended to improve the health of residents by encouraging walking as well as encouraging social interaction. The incorporation of gently curving walkways separate from streets and roads was part of the “garden city” ideal, first expressed in Great Britain, where clusters of buildings were surrounded by open spaces or village greens in contrast to the dense urban and industrial landscapes typical of manufacturing cities. By the turn of the twenty-first century, the condition of the complex had declined. In 2019 plans were announced for razing it, like many public housing complexes of its era, to make way for new housing units, and it no longer stands as of 2020.


  • Davidson County Building

    Contributors:
    Dates:

    1940

    Location:
    Lexington, Davidson County
    Street Address:

    Corner of W. Center St. and State St.

    Status:

    Unknown

    Type:

    Public

    Note:

    Ferree Project Number 319. The building is not standing, and it may not have been built.


  • Ecker Apartment Building

    Contributors:
    Dates:

    1935

    Location:
    High Point, Guilford County
    Street Address:

    1011 N. Main St.

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential

    Images Published In:

    Benjamin Briggs, The Architecture of High Point, North Carolina (2008)

    Note:

    Ferree Project Number 91. The Ecker Apartments display classic Art Deco motifs in cast cement at the main doorways.


  • Errol O. Marshburn Residence and Apartments

    Contributors:
    Dates:

    1930

    Location:
    Raleigh, Wake County
    Street Address:

    2011 Fairview Rd.

    Status:

    No longer standing

    Type:

    Residential

    Note:

    Ferree Project Number 2B. The grand Tudor Revival residence stood near Raleigh’s Five Points and was a landmark of the prestigious area. Ferree designed the building for Marshburn to contain his family residence and two apartments. The Raleigh News and Observer of June 1, 1930, carried an illustrated story about the building and the architect, noting that he designed it and other buildings in Raleigh while he was a “self-help” student at present NC State University. The unique building was demolished in 2017.


  • Gibson Ice Cream Company Building

    Contributors:
    Dates:

    1945

    Location:
    High Point, Guilford County
    Street Address:

    N. Main St.

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Commercial
    Industrial

    Note:

    Ferree Project Number 363. Although the building is still standing, it is obscured.


  • High Point Enterprise Building

    Contributors:
    Dates:

    1934, 1935

    Location:
    High Point, Guilford County
    Street Address:

    309 Main St.

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Commercial

    Images Published In:

    Benjamin Briggs, The Architecture of High Point, North Carolina (2008)

    Note:

    Ferree Project Numbers 87, 200, 375, 416. As noted in Briggs, The Architecture of High Point, the dignified 3-story building combines stylized classical elements with Art Deco details, including pilasters topped by capitals of simple geometric forms, suggestive of a classical portico. It was originally built as a two-story structure, with the third story added in harmonizing fashion. It is one of the primary Art Deco buildings in High Point, a city in which the style was used frequently.


  • Mann’s Drugstore Number 2

    Contributors:
    Dates:

    1939

    Location:
    High Point, Guilford County
    Street Address:

    N. Main St.

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Commercial

    Note:

    Ferree Project Number 297.


  • Philips-Davis Building, Professional Building

    Contributors:
    Dates:

    ca. 1939

    Location:
    High Point, Guilford County
    Street Address:

    300 S. Main St.

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Commercial

    Note:

    Ferree Project Number 245. The building features stylized classical detail, including fluted pilasters without capitals, and Art Deco treatments such as a chevron design of fiddlehead ferns over the front door and a stylized modillion cornice, all executed in cast cement. Nearby stand other Art Deco landmarks including the former post office and former courthouse.


  • Plymouth Hosiery Mill

    Contributors:
    Dates:

    1945

    Location:
    High Point, Guilford County
    Street Address:

    Corner of Willowbrook and Russel Sts.

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Industrial

    Note:

    Ferree Project Number 386. The Plymouth Hosiery Mill was one of many textile plants in a city known for its textile manufacturing.


  • Randleman Baptist Church

    Contributors:
    Variant Name(s):

    First Baptist Church; Randleman

    Dates:

    1940s

    Location:
    Randleman, Randolph County
    Street Address:

    100 N. Main St.

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Religious

    Note:

    Ferree Project Number 377. One of Ferree’s major post-World War II projects, the stone church is rendered in a strong Gothic Revival style.


  • Rowella Apartment Building

    Contributors:
    Dates:

    1934-1935

    Location:
    High Point, Guilford County
    Street Address:

    1003 N. Main Street

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential

    Images Published In:

    Benjamin Briggs, The Architecture of High Point, North Carolina (2008)

    Note:

    Ferree Project Number 35. The Rowella, which features Art Deco detailing, has a central, landscaped courtyard.


  • Smith Clinic

    Contributors:
    Dates:

    1939

    Location:
    Thomasville, Davidson County
    Street Address:

    17 Randolph St.

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Health Care

    Note:

    Ferree Project Number 278. The small, one-story brick office building features a bold Art Deco style entrance bay of concrete with a stepped parapet. For more than 35 years it housed medical offices.


  • Terry Building

    Contributors:
    Dates:

    1930s

    Location:
    High Point, Guilford County
    Street Address:

    E. Side of N. Main St. between Sheraton Ave. and English Rd.

    Status:

    No longer standing

    Type:

    Commercial

    Note:

    Ferree Project Number 6. The composition featured abstracted classical detail framing the four bays of the street front beneath a prominent parapet.


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