In recognition of the long life and extensive career of architect Holland Brady, there will be an exhibition of his work at the Tryon Fine Arts Center beginning on Tuesday, Aug. 14 and running until Aug. 30. A reception, hosted by Brady’s partner, Dean Trakas will be held on Thursday, Aug. 15 from 6-8 p.m.

The event, which is sponsored by friends and associates, will present plans, drawings and photographs of a number of residences and other buildings designed by Brady, as well as items representative of other interests in his life. Computer-aided design was anathema to Brady, who used only his imagination, his incomparable breadth of knowledge and his pen throughout his career of 62 years, during which he worked on more than 700 structures.

This skill and artistry is clearly evident in the exquisitely detailed drawings that will be on display.

Born in Tryon in 1925 at the old St. Luke’s Hospital, which was then located above what is now Owens Pharmacy on Trade Street, he attended Tryon High School in the same class as his future wife, Carolyn Flynn.

Brady spent a year at Clemson University before serving as a medic in the US Army in Europe during World War II. After returning from Europe in 1946, he continued his education at the University of Michigan, graduating in 1950. After graduating he worked for architects Paul Schweikher in Chicago, Ill, Roger Bailey in Ann Arbor, Mich. and Anthony Lord in Asheville, N.C. before returning to Tryon to assist Shannon Meriwether, becoming his partner in 1953.

He continued to work in Tryon, forming his own company after Meriwether’s retirement. In the 1960s and1970s, he occasionally collaborated with his brother-in-law, Ligon Flynn, in designing several homes in Tryon and the student housing at the Brevard Music Center, for which they received an AIA Design Award.