Willis Franklin Denny II (1874-1905), professionally known as Willis F. Denny, was an architect who practiced in Atlanta and the Southeastern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Denny was born and raised in Louisville, Georgia1 (pronounced Lewis-ville), and studied architecture at Cornell University2 in New York. Unlike most Atlanta architects, Denny had actual talent.
Like so many Southern architects, however, Denny died tragically—at the age of 31, following a “severe attack of pneumonia.”3
Although his career lasted less than 10 years, Denny was prolific, and several fine examples of his work can be found across Georgia.
Notably, seven of Denny’s works still exist in Louisville, Georgia, including the Abbot Residence4 (pictured above) on Mulberry Street.
The Abbots were Louisville’s ruling family at the time, and their name is still found on every other building in the town. Denny remade the antebellum Abbot residence with the fine Neoclassical design seen today, although a definitive date for the project is elusive.
My best guess is that the Abbot house was renovated circa 1902, since Denny used the same design for the Fleming duBignon Residence (demolished, pictured below) in Atlanta, built on the corner of Peachtree and 14th Streets in 1902.5 6 7 8
So, which came first: the Abbot design or the duBignon design? That’s a mystery yet to be solved.
The Queen Anne-style J.M. Beath Residence in Atlanta’s Inman Park neighborhood, better known as the Beath-Dickey House, is the only known extant work by A.McC. Nixon, a British-born architect1 who began his practice in Texas circa 1881 2 3 and first appeared in Atlanta in 1888.4
In late 1890, Nixon partnered with J.M.P. Lindsey as Nixon & Lindsey.5 The firm dissolved in 1894,6 shortly before a court trial in which the pair were acquitted on charges of larceny after trust stemming from their supervision of a home’s construction in 1891.7 8 9 10 The client had accused the pair of pocketing money intended for the contractors, but the matter was successfully proven to be a simple accounting error.11
Lindsey moved to Toronto in January 1895,12 and Nixon’s work in Atlanta dwindled. In July 1896, his personal possessions and business contents were sold at public auction to pay off debt.13
Apparently quite ill, Nixon returned to England in July 1896, “in the hope that the sea voyage might improve his shattered health.”14 Yet as The Southern Architect so eloquently reported:
“On the contrary, the physicians consulted after his arrival in England pronounced his ailment a hopeless case of consumption, and gave him but a few weeks of life. This will be sad news to all who knew the gentleman here in his adopted city and throughout the South, where he established a high reputation as a skilled architect, and had won many friends by his gentle and cultured manners, and whose sincere sympathies like silken chords will extend to him and his across the ocean in their hours of trial and affliction.”15
Nixon died in England in October 1896.16
Despite the claim that he was a “skilled architect,” I’ve seen no evidence that Nixon was an especially good designer, and the Beath Residence’s clumsy, top-heavy design is typical of his oeuvre.
The home was said to be of the “Domestic Gothic” style, “although not pure in this style throughout.”20 That was an understatement: I see little Gothic about it.
The home was also reportedly built “at very moderate cost,”21 which is apparent from its appearance.
In 1891, Nixon also designed the similarly styled D.H. Dougherty Residence (above, demolished),22 which has been erroneously attributed to both G.L. Norrman and W.L. Stoddart.23
Atlanta really doesn’t know its own history.
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