THE LYONS HOUSE

703 Ferry Street, NE

Circa 1915

This house was lived in by Ephraim and Minnie Lyons. The couple were part of a thriving Jewish community that was established by the early 1900s. The Lyons family built and owned the Lyons block of buildings on Bank Street, the Lyons Hotel, and more. Ephraim passed a few years after the couple had moved into the house, and Minnie continued to live here until the 1930s, when she moved to the Lyons-McNeill Apartments on the corner of Lafayette and Ferry Streets. By 1938, Posey D. and Mauriel Foster lived here. Posey was the president of the Upstate Chevrolet Company.

This house is a stately example of the Tudor Revival style, with its classic steeply pitched roof, brick work, half timbering, and stucco. The front porch with its broad roof pitch is more representative of Craftsmen style houses that are more common in the neighborhood. Most Tudor houses are more modest in their scale, and a number of smaller examples of this style are on Oak Street in Old Decatur and Sherman and Jackson Streets in the Albany District. The interior of the home features a stunning polychrome tiled floor in the sunroom.

The home was purchased in March of 2022 by Kim and Greg Fasking who relocated from Birmingham. They love the neighbor and have been captivated by Decatur’s history. They were sold on the home before ever going inside and look forward to investing their time and energy in the house and garden for many years to come.