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Architect George C. Nimmons

George C. Nimmons (1865-6/17/1947) Chicago, Illinois (F.A.I.A.)

Active in practice for nearly 50 years, prominently known in Chicago, Mr. Nimmons was a former president of the local Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and a long-time member of the Illinois Society of Architects. He was a native of Wooster, Ohio, educated at the local Academy in 1897, later studied architecture in Europe. Shortly after returning to the U.S., at the age of eighteen, he entered the Chicago office of Burnham & Root, and for a decade continued to serve as draftsman for the firm.

In 1897 Mr. Nimmons formed a partnership with William K. Fellows, which continued until 19110, and in that period the firm planned a number of large commercial buildings in Chicago, with the huge Sears & Roebuck Plant one of their most successful works. Following its completion, the partners were commissioned to design branch buildings for the company in several mid-western cities. Residential designs from that period included the R. W. Sears home located in Grayslake, Illinois (1906), and the twenty-room Prairie-style mansion built for Sears, Roebuck and Company president Julius Rosenwald in Chicago (1903).

In the years between 1910 and 1917, Mr. Nimmons practiced alone, subsequently (1917-1933) carried on work as head of his own firm, George C. Nimmons & Company. Some of the projects from these two periods include The Sears, Roebuck and Company Building, North Kansas City, Missouri (1912-13) and several works in Chicago including the Franklin Building (1912), the C. P. Kimball & Company Building (1913), the Reid, Murdoch & Company Building (1913), the Adams Schaaf Building (1916), the Union Special Machines Company Building (1918), the Kelley Building (1921) and the American Furniture Mart (1923, 1926).

In the final phase of his career (1933-1945), he continued as senior partner of the firm of Nimmons, Carr & Wright, with an office at 333 North Michigan Avenue.

Nimmons, who married Justine V. Wheeler in 1898 (they had three children), retired in 1945. After being active in practice for nearly half a century, Nimmons died on June 17th, 1947.