Frederick F. Faris


Frederick F. Faris was a Wheeling, West Virginia-based architect.

Biography

He was born in St. Clairsville, Belmont County, Ohio in 1870. He attended public schools and received no formal training as an architect. He joined the office of Edward Wells, another Wheeling architect and builder, then formed a partnership with Joseph Leiner. After that partnership dissolved, he joined with Edward B. Franzheim and Millard Giesey in 1902 to form Franzheim, Greisey, and Faris.
He designed a variety of residential, commercial, and educational buildings. Among the buildings he designed were the Schmulbach Building, then the tallest building, and the Market Auditorium, the longest building in Wheeling. Other notable buildings include the Wheeling Electric Company, the First National Bank of West Virginia, the Wheeling Intelligencer, the former public library, the Scottish Rite Cathedral, and numerous schools including the Triadelphia Junior High School and Madison School. He also designed Mount Carmel Monastery.
He died of strep throat at age 57, and was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Wheeling. At the time of his death he was known as the "dean of Wheeling architects."

Selected works

Individual listings on the National Register of Historic Places