David Burns Hyer (May 21, 1875 – December 11, 1942) was an American architect who practiced in

Charleston Charleston most commonly refers to: * Charleston, South Carolina * Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital * Charleston (dance) Charleston may also refer to: Places Australia * Charleston, South Australia Canada * Charleston, Newfoundlan ...

, South Carolina and

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

during the first half of the twentieth century, designing civic buildings in the Neoclassical Revival and Mediterranean Revival styles.

Biography

David Burns Hyer was born on May 21, 1875, in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

, the youngest son of James S. Hyer and Ella Payne. Hyer served as a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

at the Charleston Navy Yard and for many Southern railways, before opening his own private architectural practice in Charleston. Hyer’s Charleston office was located in the People's Building. David Hyer married Sally Yeadon Mazyck, daughter of James Mazyck, in June 1904; they had four children: David B Hyer Jr., Yeadon Mazyck Hyer, Robert Payne Hyer and Helen Hyer Active in Charleston (see partial list of works below) Hyer was a member of the South Carolina Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). By the early 1920s the Hyers established a home in Orlando. Hyer worked in association with Daytona and Winter Park architect John Arthur Rogers (father of architect James Gamble Rogers II); he also listed his architectural business in the Orlando city directories. As such, it was one of only 10 architectural firms listed in 1926, the others including:

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Fred E. Field Frederick E. Field (November 7, 1861 –1931) was an American architect who practiced in Providence, Rhode Island, and Orlando, Florida, in the period between 1883 and 1927. His professional training took place at Cornell University. In 1883, Fi ...

Murry S. King Murry S. King (1870–1927) (often spelled "Murray") was Florida's first registered architect, a noted American architect with a successful practice in Orlando, Florida, in the 1910s and 1920s. Life and career King was born on July 13, 1870, in ...

Maurice E. Kressly Maurice E. Kressly (1892–1963) was an American architect practicing in Pennsylvania and central Florida in the middle years of the twentieth century. Kressly was well known as a school architect in both states, as well as for designing romantic ...

George E. Krug George Edward Krug (also known as Jorge Krug) was an American architect who practiced in Greater New York City (from Orange, New Jersey), São Paulo, Brazil and Orlando, Florida. George Edward Krug was born in 1869 in Brazil, the son of Jean and I ...

Howard M. Reynolds Howard Montalbert Reynolds, Sr. (June 17, 1885 - October 21, 1943) was an American architect practicing in Orlando, Florida in the 1920s. He designed gracefully proportioned, notable public buildings in the prevailing fashionable styles of the 1 ...

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. Ryan and Roberts (

Ida Annah Ryan Ida Annah Ryan (1873–1950) was a pioneering United States architect known for her work in Massachusetts and Florida. She was the first woman to receive a Master of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the first woman ...

and Isabel Roberts) and

Percy P. Turner Percy Pamorrow Turner (1891–1958) was an American architect who, in the 1920s-1950s practiced in Baltimore Maryland, Houston, Texas, Orlando, Florida, and Miami, Florida. Early years Turner was born on December 28, 1891, in Frederick County, M ...

. It was one of 12 firms so listed in Orlando in 1927. During the 1920s Hyer maintained Orlando offices first in the Rose Building and later in the Phillips Block on South Orange Avenue. Hyer's best and most visible Orlando work is the Grace Phillips Johnson Estate on Edgewater Drive. The grand Mediterranean Revival home is on a narrow isthmus between Lake Adair and Lake Concord, with sweeping views across Lake Concord to downtown Orlando. The house once had three murals by Florida artist Sam Stoltz, only one remains, a peacock. James Gamble Rogers II managed David B. Hyer's Orlando office in 1934; by 1935 Hyer had moved back to Charleston permanently. Hyer continued to practice architecture in South Carolina as late as 1941. Hyer died on December 11, 1942, in Charleston, South Carolina.

Architectural Work – Partial Listing

*57 and 59 Gibbes St., Charleston SC - 1915 * Garden Theater, 371 King Street, Charleston, SC – C. K. Howell and D. B. Hyer - 1918 * Y.W.C.A., Charleston, SC - 1918 * Buist School, 103 Calhoun Street, Charleston, SC - 1920 * W.T. Grant & Co. building, 265-267 King St. - 1920 * Charleston High School, Charleston, SC - 1921 * St. Barnabas Lutheran Church, 45 Moultrie Street, Charleston, SC – 1922 * King Street Apartments, Charleston, SC (County Hall) - 1922 * First National Bank Building, Holly Hill, SC - 1922 * Trustees School, North Charleston, SC - 1922 * Andrew B. Murray Vocational School, 3 Chisolm Street, Charleston, SC - 1923 * Grace Protestant Episcopal Church, 98 Wentworth Street, Charleston, SC - 1923 * Charleston Heights Baptist Church - 1923 * Winyah Indigo School, Georgetown, SC - 1924 * Charleston Country Club, Charleston, SC - 1925 (as associate architect with Parsons & Co. of Boston, MA) * Pounds Motor Company Building, 162 W. Plant St., Winter Garden, FL - 1925 * Grace Phillips Johnson Estate; 1005 Edgewater Drive, Orlando, FL - 1928 * A. E. Arthur One-Stop Service Station, Orlando, FL - 1929 * Old Station 9, 1099 King Street, Charleston, SC - 1933 *

Charleston County Courthouse Charleston County Courthouse (1790–92) is a Neoclassical building in Charleston, South Carolina, designed by Irish people, Irish architect James Hoban. It was a likely model for Hoban's most famous building, the U.S. White House, and both buildi ...

(original 1792 Statehouse) additions, 84 Broad Street, Charleston, SC - 1941 * Julian Mitchell School (now Mitchell Elementary) * Rutledge Avenue Baptist Church, Charleston - 1917 * Rutledge Avenue Baptist Church (addition) * Ben Tillman School (now the Ronald McNair School)

Gallery

File:57 Gibbes.jpg, 57 Gibbes St., Charleston, SC (c. 1915) File:59 Gibbes.jpg, 59 Gibbes St., Charleston, SC (c. 1915) Image:265-267 King - Jan 2013.JPG, 265-267 King St., Charleston, SC (c. 1920) File:St Barnabas Lutheran Church.JPG, 45 Moultrie St., Charleston, SC (c. 1922) File:Murray-school-building-charleston-sc1.jpg, 3 Chisolm St., Charleston, SC (c. 1923) File:Fire House 9.jpg, 1099 King St., Charleston, SC (c. 1933)

Biography

Architectural Work – Partial Listing

Gallery

References

Further reading

See also