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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 stemming from their supervision of a home’s construction in 1891.7 8 9 10
The client had accused the architects of pocketing money intended for the contractors, but the matter was successfully proven to be an accounting error.11 Still, the well-publicized trial appears to have damaged Nixon’s reputation.
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 almost nothing Gothic about it, except the spiky roof finial.
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.













References

One of G.L. Norrman‘s least interesting works, Denmark Hall at the University of Georgia in Athens, has always been something of a bastard stepchild.
Tucked in a dark corner of the campus near South Lumpkin Street, the structure was designed primarily as a dining hall containing two adjoining 1,296-square-foot dining rooms and initially accommodated 144 students.1
The structure was built concurrently with nearby Candler Hall and was named for B.A. Denmark of Savannah2, a University of Georgia alumnus and the chairman of the building committee for the university’s Board of Trustees, who died in June 1901, just weeks after approving Norrman’s plans,3 and one day before the building’s cornerstone ceremony.4
Denmark had secured $45,000 from the Georgia legislature to fund the 2 buildings,5 but one of Norrman’s original plans called for combining the dining hall and dormitory into one structure—the committee rejected that proposal.6
Candler Hall subsequently received the bulk of the funding— $28,0007—and most of Norrman’s attention, it seems. Denmark Hall was reportedly built for less than half that amount: $12,850.8
Norrman’s plans were selected in open competition against a fairly meager crop of designers: J.W. GoLucke of Atlanta, Hodgson & Company of Athens, Georgia; E.C. Seiz of Atlanta; D.A. Myer of Williamsport, Pennsylvania; Alexander Blair of Macon, Georgia; and Walter & Legare of Columbia, South Carolina.9
It also no doubt helped that Norrman and B.A. Denmark had a history together: Denmark was a longtime member of Savannah’s local Board of Public Education, and approved Norrman’s plans for the Anderson Street School (1896),10 and presumably, the 38th Street School (1901).11
The Design

Low-slung and utilitarian, Denmark Hall was designed with a central 2-story structure that originally housed the dining rooms, flanked by a large one-story kitchen at the back and a small one-story wing at the front, containing a sitting room, lounge, and small recessed entry porch. Storage rooms were located in the basement.13
The second floor included the “matron’s room”—living quarters for the dining hall manager—and “three other rooms for the use of students who may be sick enough to need such care and attention as they can be given there”, according to the Atlanta Constitution.14 A spacious recessed porch spanned the front of the second floor.
The exterior of the building was clad in stucco-covered brick scored to resemble stone and given Neoclassical touches.
Intact original elements include:
Original elements that have been removed include:
Denmark Hall’s facade evolved from Norrman’s design for the Arthur B.M. Gibbes Residence in Savannah, Georgia, built in 1900.15 The Gibbes home is one of the most atrocious designs Norrman ever put his name to, and Denmark Hall wasn’t much better.

By the turn of the 20th century, Norrman had all but abandoned the brash, soaring lines and elements of his earlier designs: the lofty towers, fantastically high roofs, oversized porches and gables, and prominent chimneys.
The transition was partly due to changing tastes, but also reflected a severely depressed economy and Norrman’s own dwindling fortunes.
Looking at his projects circa 1897-1900, it’s clear that Norrman had lost confidence, inspiration, and interest: his designs from the time were often sluggish and banal, many of them poor rehashes of his earlier, more successful works.
The Gibbes Residence was one such project, a clunky reiteration of his design for the Milton Dargan Residence in Atlanta.
For Denmark Hall, Norrman took the template for the Dargan and Gibbes facades and stretched it out. The entry porch from those designs remained, but the Palladian windows on either side were replaced with simpler windows.
The small recessed porch from the previous plans was expanded across the second floor, and the two large dormer windows from the Dargan house were shrunk to fit the building’s reduced height.
Norrman was a master of working with solids and voids in his compositions, and in his design for Denmark Hall, you can easily spot his technique.
It was as if he had removed a block of space from the second floor and placed it at the foot of the building, creating both the upper porch and the lower front wing—a simple but effective trick to achieve visual balance.
The building’s overall composition would have been stronger if it had remained faithful to the design shown in the original rendering (above), which included a higher roofline.
Why Norrman altered the roof to a lower pitch is unclear, but a vintage photograph of the building (pictured below) shows that the large porch columns and wide chimneys depicted in the illustration were substituted with thinner versions to accommodate the altered design, robbing the composition of much-needed vigor.
Breaking with classical precedent, the odd number of columns across the front was an unconventional choice, and a subtle indicator of the building’s role as a modern facility for the 20th century.

Construction and History
Construction on Denmark Hall began circa May 1901,17 using convict labor loaned by Clarke County.18
There was a report from June 1901 that the university’s Board of Trustees had concerns about the quality of the building materials used in Denmark Hall and Candler Hall, which the Atlanta Constitution remarked were “without weight, the architect demonstrating to the satisfaction of the board that the material was all right.”19
Denmark Hall’s cornerstone was laid on June 14, 1901,20 and a July report from “Supt. McKinly” stated that work on both buildings was expected to be completed by late October.21
Denmark and Candler Halls ultimately opened on January 7, 1902. With delays blamed on weather and the holidays, construction on the buildings ran to the last minute, and their completion delayed the start of the school semester by four days.22
In Denmark Hall’s first year of operation, students were charged a whopping $7.50 to $8 a month for meals.23
The original “matron” of the facility was Mrs. B.H. Kinnebrew.24 She resigned in March 1908,25 after her husband, a sheriff’s deputy, shot and killed himself with a .44 caliber pistol “from no known cause” in their apartment on the building’s second floor.26 27
By that time, students had already begun referring to Denmark Hall as “the Beanery”,28 an inglorious name that stuck with the structure for decades. By 1910, with the school’s halls overflowing, part of the second floor was converted to dormitory space,29 a function it served through at least the early 1920s.

Norrman never seemed overly concerned with planning his structures for anticipated growth: he publicly railed against “waste space” and consistently designed his interiors to be as compact as possible while remaining functional.
His design for Denmark Hall was no exception, and in November 1902, a newspaper report on the college’s record-breaking attendance stated that “every chair at the Denmark Dining Hall has been filled.”30
By 1903, seating was increased to 160,31 and in 1908, the hall reportedly served 253 students, with the Board of Trustees asking the governor and legislature for “increased facilities at Denmark Hall.”32 In 1911, a report stated that the building was “taxed to its capacity”, requiring “enlargement and better equipment.”33
Attendance at the school continued to grow, and despite repeated funding requests, Denmark Hall remained the only dining option on campus for more than 20 years.
In 1914, the Athens Daily Herald reported that “the Beanery is crowded again this year”, adding, “we hope that the legislature will be able to make appropriations to enlarge the dining hall.”34
In 1921, the Athens Daily Banner lamented: “Not only is the dining room crowded but the matter of cooking for 350 people in a kitchen equipped for two-thirds that number and not well equipped at that is taxing Mrs. Kennebrew’s [sic]most skillful management.”35 Apparently, Mrs. Kinnebrew returned.
Finally, with the opening of Memorial Hall in June 1924, the campus gained additional dining space,36 although Denmark Hall remained the primary facility for that purpose.

In 1936, Denmark Hall received its first expansion: a small cafeteria seating 92 students.37 38The cafeteria wing was attached to the southwest corner of the building,39 and its exterior appearance is remarkably congruent with Norrman’s design. The basement was also remodeled during the expansion.40
The cafeteria plan quickly gained popularity, and in 1938, Denmark Hall became the first dining space on campus to switch entirely to the cafeteria system,41 ending the era of “food served in the old manner”, which required the employment of waiters.42
In 1939, Mrs. M.D. Dunlap became the new director and dietitian of Denmark Hall,43 44 and she and her husband, a professor, took up residence on the second floor. At some point in their residency, Professor Dunlap began a garden on the roof of the front wing.45
In 1942 and 1943, Denmark Hall received multiple additions to accommodate the feeding of 1,200 Signal Corps troops who trained on the University of Georgia campus in preparation for World War II.46 47 48
The first expansion was an annex hastily added to the kitchen in 1942, expanding its size by a third.49 In 1943, four small additions were made to the building, including two screened porches.50 In September 1943, the Signal Corps school was closed,51 and the dining hall returned to student use.52 53
With over $10,000 in improvements, the remodeled Denmark Hall was touted as “one of the most modern cafeterias on any campus in the South”,54 although that appears to have been hyperbole. In 1945, the university president reported to the Georgia General Assembly that the building was “outmoded and inadequate”. 55 56
In 1948, after 10 years living on the second floor, Professor Dunlap moved to Atlanta, leaving his rooftop garden at Denmark Hall “wiltering”, according to one report.57 Seizing the opportunity, the college’s department of landscape architecture took over the building’s second floor, creating three draft rooms.58
Since 1938, the landscape architecture department had been based at the Lumpkin House,59 60 a small antebellum residence that still stands on campus. With 75 students enrolled in the program,61 the new space in Denmark Hall was a much-needed addition to accommodate the department’s growth.

In 1955, a popular student hangout spot called the Co-Op moved to Denmark Hall’s basement, where it included a soda fountain, snack bar, grill, and a supply store. For the Co-Op’s occupation of the space, the basement was air-conditioned and refinished in knotty pine.62 63
The rest of the building, however, was not air-conditioned and was reportedly “in bad shape”. In 1952, an inspection committee identified Denmark Hall as one of several buildings “in need of extensive repairs.”64
First-hand accounts of the Beanery at the time were unpleasant: students described it as “drab old Denmark Hall”,65 where “…to find your food during the warm months, you have to push literally dozens of flies from your plate.”66 Savory.
With the opening of a new cafeteria in nearby Memorial Hall, the last meal at Denmark Hall was served on March 14, 1956, ending 55 years of continuous food service.67 68
The university had previously announced its plans to demolish Denmark Hall,69 70 but the building was instead spared and received an extensive $40,000 overhaul for use as the landscape architecture department’s new home.71 72

Primarily designed by E.C. Weren, a member of the landscape architecture faculty, Denmark Hall’s renovation was not sympathetic to Norrman’s original design.
The renovation included the demolition of most of the original kitchen, a complete overhaul of the interior, enclosure of the second-floor porch, an outdoor stairwell tacked on to the west side of the building, air conditioning, and “extensive use of screen walls and glass.”73
This also appears to be when Denmark Hall’s columns, dormers, and balustrade were removed from the exterior, as they were still present in a photograph from 1951.74
The renovated building officially reopened on October 16, 1957.75
The Co-Op remained in the basement during Denmark Hall’s renovation and was expanded,76 77 78 but in 1963, it was unceremoniously shuttered for full occupation by the landscape architecture department.79
On October 6, 1964, the building officially reopened again, with the basement now housing a model shop, blueprint room, darkroom, drafting room, and 2 classrooms. The basement renovation reportedly cost $100,000, more than twice the amount spent on the entire building 7 years earlier.80

Denmark Hall’s 1964 renovation was its last substantial alteration, although it has received piecemeal alterations and upgrades for decades. As of 2025, the building remains in use by the landscape architecture department’s successor, the College of Environment + Design.
Essentially nothing of Denmark Hall’s original interior remains, but if you stand outside and squint your eyes, you can still make out the form of Norrman’s design.
While Candler Hall received a beautiful renovation in 2003,81 the University of Georgia has shown little appetite to renovate its less-attractive sibling, which could still be accurately described as “drab old Denmark Hall.”
The College of Environment + Design’s 2025 strategic plan included a vague goal to “renovate Denmark Hall as a cutting-edge teaching facility… funds permitting.”82
That doesn’t sound very promising, does it?


























































I’ve passed through Greenwood, South Carolina, countless times on back-and-forth trips between Abbeville and Newberry, two towns that contain surviving works by G.L. Norrman.
On my last pass, I was happy to find this well-preserved sign for the Dixie Drive-In, which apparently debuted with the restaurant’s opening in 1959.
This is a true Googie relic, which is quite rare in the Deep South. Sorry, I ain’t calling it Dixie.





This Queen Anne-style home is Atlanta’s only known extant work designed by J.W. Golucke (1857-1907),1 2 a shyster carpenter who built a career on smooth talk and grand delusions of being a legitimate architect.
A thoroughly fraudulent and incompetent designer, Golucke was one of several “Atlanta architects” of his era who did little actual work in the city, primarily peddling their shoddy plans to poor, rural communities that didn’t know any better.
If you travel through backwoods Georgia, you’ll find more than a dozen county courthouses by Golucke’s design3—all of them terrible.
Golucke fittingly died in a southwest Georgia jail cell while being held on charges of forgery,4 weeks after attempting suicide under the influence of drugs.5 6 His work is not celebrated here.







References