Wyatt C. Hedrick

Wyatt Cephus Hedrick (December 17, 1888, in Chatham, Virginia – May 5, 1964, in Houston, Texas) was an American architect, engineer, and developer most active in Texas and the American South. He began his career as an engineer, working in Virginia and Texas. He started his own firm in Fort Worth, and later merged with the architecture firm of Sanguinet & Staats before buying out the interests of the senior partners.

Wyatt Cephus Hedrick
Born	(1888-12-17)December 17, 1888 Chatham, Virginia, United States
Died	May 5, 1964(1964-05-05) (aged 75) Houston, Texas, United States
Alma mater	Roanoke College Washington and Lee University
Occupation	Architect
Spouses	Pauline Stripling Mildred Sterling Hedrick
Practice	Wyatt Hedrick & Co.
Buildings	Administration Building Eudora Welty House Shamrock Hotel
Projects	Texas and Pacific Terminal Complex Will Rogers Memorial Center

Early life

Wyatt Cephus Hedrick was born December 17, 1888, in Chatham, Virginia, to Washington Henry and Emma Cephas (Williams) Hedrick. He matriculated at Roanoke College, gaining his bachelor's degree in 1909. He earned a degree in engineering the next year from Washington and Lee University.^[1]

1925 — Administration Building, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas

1925 — Eudora Welty House, Jackson, Mississippi

1930 — Sterick Building, Memphis, Tennessee

1936 — Will Rogers Memorial Center, Fort Worth, Texas

1931 — Texas and Pacific Terminal and Warehouse, Fort Worth, Texas

Career

In 1910, Hedrick started a career in engineering, working briefly for Lane Brothers in his home state. Later that year he accepted a position at the Dallas office of Stone and Webster Engineering Corporation. He was a construction engineer for about three years.^[1]

In 1914, Hedrick started his own engineering firm in Fort Worth under the name of Wyatt C. Hedrick Construction Company.^[2]

Hedrick was accepted into the partnership of Sanguinet & Staats in 1921, an architecture firm based in Fort Worth which specialized in skyscrapers.^[1]

After a year, Hedrick began his work as an architect in Fort Worth, Texas, and three years later opened his own office. He was responsible for many of the tallest buildings in Fort Worth, and several of his works are included on the National Register of Historic Places. Fort Worth's first Art Moderne skyscraper, the Worth Theatre (1927), was designed by Hedrick while partnered with Sanguinet & Staats.^[3]

Hedrick worked mainly in a stripped-down classical style. With his extensive university and government work, at one time his firm was the third-largest in the United States.

Hedrick is also known for his eight Texas courthouses, all of which are still standing. They include: Austin County, Brazoria County, Coke County, Coleman County, Comanche, County, Kent County, Motley County, and Yoakum County.

Personal life

In 1918 he married Pauline Stripling. In 1925, he married Mildred Sterling, and in 1931 his father-in-law, Ross S. Sterling, became governor of Texas.^[1]

Works

A list of works by Hedrick in chronological order, with shared attribution where applicable:

Fort Worth	City	Address	Year	NRHP-listed?	Status	Firm	Notes
First National Bank Building[4]	Fort Worth	711 Houston St.	1910	yes		Sanguinet & Staats with Hedrick
Houston Street Viaduct[4]	Dallas	Houston St. roughly between Arlington St. and Lancaster Ave.	1911	yes		Hedrick & Cochrane
Neil P. Anderson Building[4]	Fort Worth	411 W. 7th St.	1921	yes		Sanguinet & Staats; W. C. Hedrick Construction
Petroleum Building[4]	Fort Worth	210 W. 6th. St.	1921	yes
West Texas Utilities Company Power Plant[4]	Abilene, Texas	100 Block of N. Second St.	1922	yes
Sam Houston Hotel[4]	Houston	1117 Prairie St.	1924	yes		Sanguinet, Staats, Hedrick & Gottlie
St. Mary of the Assumption Church[4]	Fort Worth	501 W. Magnolia Ave.	1924	yes		Sanguinet, Staats & Hedrick
Eudora Welty House[4]	Jackson, Mississippi	1119 Pinehurst St.	1925	yes
Administration Building[5]	Lubbock, Texas	Texas Tech University	1925			Sanguinet, Staats and Hedrick	William Ward Watkin, associate architect
Sanger Brothers Building[4]	Fort Worth	410–412 Houston St.	1925	yes
Medical Arts Building	Fort Worth		1926		Razed
Medical Arts Building[6]	Houston		1926			Sanguinet, Staats, Hedrick and Gottlieb
The Oliver Rea Eakle Building (Name changed to The Barfield in ~1947)	Amarillo	600 S. Polk St.	1926	yes	Undergoing restoration as of Oct. 2019	Sanguinet, Staats, Hedrick and Gottlieb
Fort Worth Elks Lodge 124[4]	Fort Worth	512 W. 4th St.	1927	yes
Snider Hall[4]	Dallas	3305 Dyer St.	1927	yes
Texas Technological College Dairy Barn[4]	Lubbock	Texas Tech University	1927	yes		Sanguinet, Staats & Hedrick
Virginia Hall (Dallas, Texas), SMU campus[4]	Dallas	3325 Dyer St.	1927	yes
Fort Worth and Denver South Plains Railway Depot[4]	Lubbock, Texas	1801 Ave. G	1927	yes
Islamic Da’wah Center of Houston	Houston, Texas	202 Main St.	1928	yes		Hedrick & Gottlieb, Inc.	Formerly Houston National Bank[4]
Chemistry Building, Texas Tech University[5]	Lubbock	Texas Tech University	1928			Wyatt C. Hedrick and Company	William Ward Watkin, associate architect
Electric Building[4]	Fort Worth	410 W. 7th St.	1929	yes
Petroleum Building[6] and Yucca Theatre	Midland, Texas		1929				aka Hogan Building
First Presbyterian Church (Corpus Christi, Texas)[7]	Corpus Christi, Texas	430 S. Carancahua St.	1929
Baker Hotel[4]	Mineral Wells, TX	200 E. Hubbard St.	1929	yes
Sterick Building[4]	Memphis, Tennessee	8 N. 3rd St.	1930	yes
Commerce Building	Fort Worth		1930
Texas and Pacific Terminal and Warehouse[4]	Fort Worth	Lancaster and Throckmorton Sts.	1931	yes			NRHP-listed as Texas and Pacific Terminal Complex, Art Deco skyscraper
Psychopathic Hospital	Bolivar, Tennessee		1932		Polk Building		Within NRHP-listed Western State Hospital Historic District[8]
United States Post Office[4]	Fort Worth	Lancaster and Jennings Ave.	1933	yes
Will Rogers Memorial Center	Fort Worth		1936			With Elmer G. Withers
Fort Worth City Hall			1938	yes	Public Safety and Courts Building		With Elmer G. Withers
First National Bank[9]	Midland, Texas		1938			Hedrick and Company
Amarillo US Post Office and Courthouse[4]	Amarillo, Texas	205 E. Fifth St.	1939	yes
Comanche County Courthouse (Comanche, Texas)[10]	Comanche, Texas		1939			Wyatt C. Hedrick	WPA project
Star School building	Star, Texas		1940			Wyatt C. Hedrick	WPA project
B H Carroll Memorial Building	Fort Worth		1948
Shamrock Hotel	Houston		1949		Razed
Corrigan Tower	Dallas		1952
Remodel of Coleman County Courthouse[11]	Coleman, Texas		1952			Wyatt Hedrick
Cotton Belt Building[4]	Tyler, Texas	1517 W. Front St.	1955	yes		H. J. McKenzie and Wyatt C. Hedrick
Coke County Courthouse[12]	Robert Lee, Texas		1956			Wyatt C. Hedrick, with Harry Weaver
Annex to Live Oak County Courthouse[13]	George West, Texas		1956			Wyatt Hedrick
Rosedale Park Elementary School (Maudrie Walton Elementary School)	Fort Worth	5816 Rickenbacker Pl.	1956			Wyatt C. Hedrick
Austin County Courthouse[14]	Bellville, Texas		1960			Wyatt C. Hedrick
Fidelity Union Life Insurance Building[4]	Dallas	1511 Bryan and 1507 Pacific Ave.	1965	yes
				yes
				yes
Addition to Brazoria County Courthouse[15]	Angleton, Texas		1976	yes		Wyatt C. Hedrick

• One or more works in Wharton County Courthouse Historic Commercial District, Roughly bounded by the alley N of Milam St., Rusk St., Elm St. and Richmond St. Wharton, TX, NRHP-listed^[4]