Born in 1878 in Frametown, West Virginia, Levi Johnson Dean studied architecture by completing a Scranton Pennsylvania International Correspondence School course. He began practicing architecture in Huntington in 1910. In 1921, the state architectural registration law was enacted and he became the nineteenth architect to be licensed in the state of West Virginia. His legacy includes some of the area's most beautiful architectural works from the area's "boom" years of the 1920's - churches, county courthouses, residences and many commercial buildings such as those on Huntington's Fourth Avenue known for their terra cotta and metalwork trimmed facades. Two private residences designed by Levi Dean are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.