A. Hays Town

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name = A. Hays Town


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birth_date = 1903
birth_place = Lafayette, Louisiana
death_date = January 6, 2005
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occupation = Architect
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A. Hays Town (1903 - January 6, 2005) has been called the "Premier Architect of the South". He grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana. He graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, then known as Southwestern Louisiana Institute, and Tulane University Architecture School in New Orleans in 1926. Town then went to Jackson, Mississippi, to work with Noah Overstreet; becoming his partner. During the this tenure, he surveyed the historical homes of Mississippi. Among his designs in Jackson is Bailey Junior High School.

A. Hays Town established a successful commercial practice in Baton Rouge in 1939, but in the 1960s at an age when many people are considering retirement, he turned to his abiding passion – residential architecture. Throughout this chapter of his career, he perfected and expanded his inimitable style and emerged as one of the most prominent architects in the South.

“Without Hays Town, the architecture of Louisiana might well have dissipated into the mainstream. Instead, we have a wonderful thing, a fine tradition alive and well in America.” — Andres Duany Fact|date=January 2008

"A. Hays Town changed the face of the Louisiana house. In a career that includes designing more than five hundred homes, he led architects, builders, and homeowners to embrace the finest elements of Louisiana’s architectural past. Almost every home built in Louisiana during the last twenty years is in some way inspired by Town’s work." - Cyril E. Vetter He was the mastermind behind the design of the French Quarter light with the help of Andrew Bevolo back in 1945 (located in the same building for the past 63 years)in the French Quarter in New Orleans, Louisiana.Fact|date=January 2008

Mr. Town's son continues his legacy of drawing homes. His grandson continues the tradition of building. The Foundation for Historical Louisiana has established a registry of his work and the current Town homeowners are invited to purchase an architecture marker.

Early in his career, John Desmond, another award-winning Baton Rouge architect, worked for Town.

Town died at the age of 101.

References

* Louisiana Houses of A. Hays Town by A. Hays Town, Cyril E. Vetter, and Philip Gould. Louisiana State University Press, 1999. ISBN 978-0-8071-2371-3
* The Architectural Style of A. Hays Town by A. Hays Town (Hardcover - Dec 1985)
* The Life and Work of the Twentieth-Century Louisiana Architect A. Hays Town (Mellen Studies in Architecture, V. 10) (Hardcover) by David H. Sachs (Author)

External links

* http://www.ahaystown.com/pages/1/index.htm
* http://archrecord.construction.com/news/daily/archives/050118town.asp
* http://www.fhl.org/FHL/Preservation/MarkerProg.shtm