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J.M. Beath House – Inman Park, Atlanta (1890)

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J.M. Beath House – Inman Park, Atlanta (1890) – designed by A.M.C. Nixon

The Queen Anne-style J.M. Beath House in Atlanta’s Inman Park neighborhood, better known as the Beath-Dickey House, is the only known extant work by A.M.C. Nixon, an architect who began his practice in Texas circa 18811,2 and first appeared in Atlanta in 1888.3

In late 1890, Nixon partnered with J.M.P. Lindsey under the name Nixon & Lindsey.4 The firm dissolved in 18945, 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 1891.6,7,8,9 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.8

After the trial, Nixon’s work in Atlanta dwindled, and in July 1896, his personal possessions and business contents were sold at public auction to pay off debt.10 Apparently in poor health, he moved to England in July 1896, where he died that October.11

Nixon was not an especially good designer, and the Beath House’s clumsy, top-heavy design is typical of his oeuvre. In 1891, he also designed the similarly styled D.H. Dougherty House12 (demolished), which has been erroneously attributed to both G.L. Norrman and W.L. Stoddart. Atlanta really doesn’t know its own history.

References

  1. “San Sada.” The Galveston Daily News, May 15, 1881, p. 1.
  2. “Twenty-Five Cent Column”. The Austin Daily Statesman, June 2, 1881, p. 3.
  3. “From Our Notebooks.” The Atlanta Constitution, October 1, 1888, p. 4.
  4. “Wanted.” The Atlanta Journal, November 15, 1890, p. 7.
  5. “A Dissolution of Copartnership.” The Atlanta Constitution, April 4, 1894, p. 3.
  6. “Architects On Trial.” The Atlanta Journal, June 21, 1894, p. 1.
  7. “The Architect Not Guilty.” The Atlanta Journal, June 22, 1894, p. 3.
  8. “Mr. Nixon Not Guilty.” The Atlanta Constitution, June 23, 1894, p. 5.
  9. “The Case Dismissed.” The Atlanta Journal, June 23, 1894, p. 9.
  10. “Public Sale of Personal Valuable Property”. The Atlanta Journal, June 15, 1896, p. 2.
  11. “Mr. A. McC Nixon Dead.” The Atlanta Journal, October 26, 1896, p. 5.
  12. The Southern Architect, June 1895, Vol. 6, No. 8, p. 167.

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