Leslie F. Ayres Architectural Drawings Collection

Leslie F. Ayres (1906-1952) was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Frank and Bertha Wolf Ayres. His father was a machinist and die maker. Leslie, and his younger brother Robert, went to high school at Arsenal Technical High School. It is there where he learned to draw and developed the desire to become an architect.

His career began when he met Edward Pierre at his relatively new firm, Pierre & Wright, in Indianapolis. Pierre, a young architect at the time, would become Ayres’ mentor and friend, and quickly realized his talent for rendering and gave him a job before he graduated from high school. Ayres worked for Pierre & Wright until he was awarded the prestigious Princeton Prize in Architecture in 1926. The award allowed for a year of free tuition at Princeton University, and Ayres jumped at the opportunity. While there, however, his performance was somewhat lackluster. Professors lauded on his seemingly natural ability to draw but complained about his lack of focus on assignments. Despite his difficulties at Princeton, he earned the Certificate of Proficiency in 1927 and returned to Indianapolis to work as an architect and renderer.

Ayres continued to receive rendering commissions from his former employers, Pierre & Wright, as well as from other prominent firms such as Rubush & Hunter, A. M. Strauss, and Robert Frost Daggett. His beautiful and atmospheric renderings, which were often made in watercolor and colored pencil, lent an air of sophistication to any project and were used to sell the client on the architect’s design. He was so successful, that in 1948, the magazine National Architect described him as “just about the only professional renderer in Indiana.”

During this time he also built his architectural practice by designing residences, apartments, commercial buildings, and chapels in his distinctive Art Moderne and Art Deco styles. Buildings such as the Federal Economic Recovery Act Building (1934) at the Indiana State Fairgrounds and the Wilkinson House (1936) in Muncie, Indiana, exemplify his modern and glamorous contributions to Indiana architecture. An active leader in the Indianapolis Home Show from 1940-1947, Ayres designed many of the model homes during this time. He focused on sophisticated small homes that did not trade style for square footage.

Ayres married Edna C. Silcox in 1937; the couple had no children. Leslie Ayres died in 1952 from a heart attack in their home. He is buried in Washington Park East Cemetery in Indianapolis.