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Ligon B. Flynn, FAIA (Fellow of the American Institute of Architects)

(February 24, 1931 – September 26, 2010 ) was an American Architect who practiced in North Carolina in general and the Wilmington, North Carolina area specifically and known for his residential projects along the southeastern coast of North Carolina.

Born near Tryon, North Carolina to parents Broadus Bryan Flynn, a rural Postal Carrier and Myrtle Shields Flynn. After becoming an Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America), Ligon attended what was then the North Carolina State University School of Design in Raleigh, North Carolina graduating in 1963. Ligon married Susan Hardin Flynn and had two children, son Ligon Haywood Flynn and daughter Susan Brooks Flynn Romano James. After teaching at the School of Design from 1963 thru 1967 he started his firm Ligon B. Flynn Architects in 1969. He was joined by Henry Johnston in 1971 and the firm relocated to Wilmington, North Carolina in 1972 to work with developer Young Smith of Figure Eight Island Development Company and Landscape architect Richard Bell to masterplan the north end of the island. The partnership with Henry Johnston ended in 1976 and Ligon continued as a solo practice. The firm developed offices at Litchfield by the Sea, Brookgreen Gardens Visitor Center in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, the original St. John’s Art Gallery, Chandlers Wharf, Lower Cape Fear Hospice, and an addition to Thalian Hall in Wilmington, but was better known for his numerous elevated or piling residences of Figure Eight Island and the coast of North Carolina. Of note, the Eskey Residence, Loutit Residence, Melvin Residence, the Bob Timberlake (artist) Residence, Doherty Residence, Simons Residence, Birrell Residence, Roberts Residence, and Ellison Residence, aka "Ligon Point" &.



A self-proclaimed short, red headed country boy trying to do good work, one of his tenets of design was "every building must have a garden" and “there should always be a breeze”. In 1993, he received the Kamphoefner Prize from the N.C. Architecture Foundation. During his active career, Flynn won numerous honors, including six design awards from the North Carolina Chapter of the American Institute of Architects including his firm’s own office at 15 S. Second Street, Wilmington, North Carolina in 1993, now called ”The Atrium by Ligon Flynn”. Also a painter and amateur photographer, Flynn documented the vanishing tobacco barns of eastern North and South Carolina which led to an exhibit “Down Tobacco Road” at the Cape Fear Museum in Wilmington in 2001, 2002, and again in 2009. The photos were subsequently published in the book, “Tobacco Barns” printed via Lulu.com in 2007. In February 2009 Ligon suffered a stroke while walking in downtown Wilmington with his wife Susan. He died September 26th, 2010. His papers and project files were donated by his wife to the North Carolina State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center (SCRC).