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Holland Brady Jr., Ligon Flynn topic of recent program

 

By Doug Clark

 

TRYON—Shields Flynn promised his Tales of Tryon audience on March 20 that he would “take them down some windy roads” on his tour of Mid-Century Modernist architecture. He did, but the roads begin and end in Tryon, “a very unusual community, one we should all be proud of.” One reason for celebration? The architecture created and still seen here.

Two of the most famous Tryon architects, both born and raised here and closely connected to the town and to one another, were Holland Brady Jr. and Ligon Flynn.

Shields Flynn, Ligon’s younger brother and Brady’s brother-in-law, entertained an audience that nearly filled the sanctuary at Tryon Presbyterian Church—which was designed by Brady and Shannon Meriwether in the 1950s. The sanctuary, noted for its masonry, high ceiling and towering stained-glass window casting multi-colored light throughout the worship space, was “one of Holland and Meriwether’s very, very best things they did in the area,” Shields Flynn said.

Brady was born in 1925 and attended Tryon schools. Growing up, he developed an interest in architecture, crediting the influence of Russell Walcott, Vivian Devereux Van Akin and Catherine Tobin Wright, the first wife of Frank Lloyd Wright. She lived for a time off Melrose Avenue in Tryon. Brady briefly attended Clemson University before enlisting in the Army and serving in the European Theater as a medic during the final years of World War II. Someone suggested he enroll in the architecture school at the University of Michigan when he returned to civilian life, which he did.

After earning his degree, Brady joined a Chicago firm and was assigned to finish the design of a house in Tryon for architect Edward H. Bennett. Brady soon moved to a firm in Asheville, then joined Shannon Meriwether in Tryon in 1951. The same year, he married Carolyn Flynn. For the next six decades, Brady worked on hundreds of projects, including homes, churches and other structures – a few in collaboration with Ligon Flynn. Brady died in 2013.

Flynn was born in 1931 and, after completing studies in Tryon schools, enrolled in the newly established School of Design at N.C. State University in 1949. The faculty included some of the country’s leading architects, and the school hosted a distinguished lineup of guest lecturers, such as Buckminster Fuller, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright.

“This was the environment where my brother lived and landed in 1949,” Shields Flynn said.

Flynn’s studies were also interrupted by war – for him, in Korea. After service with the Army Corps of Engineers, he toured Europe, pursued interests in painting and photography, and finally returned to complete his degree. He taught at N.C. State for several years before finally launching his architecture career in 1971 in Raleigh.

In different ways, the work of Brady and Flynn, and Tryon architecture in general, was steered by Midwestern and Mid-Century Modernist influences. This style was characterized by clean lines, large windows, open floor plans, glass walls and natural materials. It was well-suited to take advantage of the mountain settings and beautiful views found in and around Tryon.

Ironically, Flynn practiced not in the mountains but in Wilmington for most of his career. Although he won awards for his work in many environments, he designed the yacht club and more than 70 residences on exclusive Figure Eight Island on the North Carolina coast. But he and his brother-in-law shared one American Institute of Architects award for work far from the coast – the student housing at Brevard Music Center.

Flynn died in 2010, but he and Brady are remembered among more than 40 architects who have practiced in Tryon through the years to the present.

“I doubt you could find any other town this size to match this history,” Shields Flynn said.