GARNSEY, George Otis (1840-1923), a successful architect and journal editor in Chicago, Illinois who is best known for his winning design in the competition for the State House in Springfield, Illinois in 1867. He was active in the following firms:
Cochrane & Garnsey, Chicago, 1867-68
George O. Garnsey, Chicago, 1869-73
Rankin & Garnsey, Chicago, 1873-75
George O. Garnsey, Chicago, 1875 to c. 1905
Garnsey was born in Rock Island, Illinois on 14 September 1840 and trained in the office of Otis L. Wheelock, a prominent Chicago architect, from 1862 to 1865 (Chicago City Directory, 1862, 144). In 1867 he was listed in partnership with John C. Cochrane, and together with him, won the competition for the Illinois State House in Springfield, a design which Garnsey claimed was solely his own work. By 1869 Garnsey had opened his own office, and his practise flourished, with commissions for ecclesiastical, commercial, institutional and residential projects in Illinois and surrounding states. He employed a variety of eclectic styles, but seemed to favour an elaborate Queen Anne or Stick Style for his residential commissions.
In 1885 Garnsey became the editor of the monthly architectural journal called The National Builder, and he used the journal as platform to promote his own designs for elaborate houses in the Queen Anne style. One of these designs, called The Hyde Park Villa, was first built in nearby Sycamore, Illinois for David Syme (c. 1885), and was replicated again in Port Huron, Michigan in 1887 for John J. Jenkinson. Just across the St. Clair River, in Sarnia, Ontario, it is likely that the local lumber baron William Lawrence saw this impressive Michigan residence and asked for an exact copy in 1892, but with the plan and elevation reversed, to fit his corner building site on Christina Street South. This house still stands as of 2017, and is now called The Lawrence House Centre for the Arts. In addition, an identical copy of this house plan was built on Berford Street in Wiarton, Ont., and it too is still standing as of 2018.
In addition to serving as Editor of the National Builder from 1885 to 1892, Garnsey published his own pattern book called Beautiful Houses & How to Build Them (1886), containing nineteen designs for modern buildings, printed in colour (Daily Inter-Ocean [Chicago], 23 October 1886, 9), and the following year, in 1887, he published a book entitled The American Glossary of Architectural Terms. This was followed in 1891 by a larger, more wide-ranging book of designs called The National Builder’s Album of Beautiful Homes which contained his popular design for the Hyde Park Villa. After 1880, Garnsey developed as reputation as a noted designer of local theatres and opera houses, and was reputed to have designed nearly forty of these buildings in towns throughout the American Midwest. He died in Chicago on 18 April 1923 (death notice Chicago Tribune, 20 April 1923, 10). An engraved portrait and biography of Garnsey appeared in the Chicago Tribune, 19 Fab. 1893, 10.
(works in Canada)
SARNIA, ONT., residence for William Lawrence, Christina Street South at Wellington Street, 1892-93, an identical copy, with plan reversed, of the plan for the “Hyde Park Villa” design published in the architectural journal called The National Builder [Chicago], in 1885.
WIARTON, ONT., large residence for Mr. Reckin, Berford Street near Elm Street, 1893 (Wiarton Echo, 20 June 2013, illus. & descrip., but lacking attribution; inf. Ian Mason, Sarnia; inf. Mark Sponaugle, Tennessee)
(works in Chicago)
(with John C. Rankin) CHICAGO, ILL., a large tract of 25 houses on Ogden Avenue at West Washington Street, each five stories high, with cut stone fronts, located opposite Union Park, 1875 (Daily Inter-Ocean [Chicago], 29 March 1875, 5, descrip.)
THE EASTMAN BUILDINGS, on the block bounded by Madison Street, Washington Street, Ada Street and Elizabeth Street, intersected by Throop Street, a group of 76 residential, commercial and institutional buildings for Joseph Eastman, all designed in a French Renaissance style, 1876-77 (Chicago Tribune, 25 Feb. 1877, 5, descrip.)
MARSH HARVESTER LTD., Fullerton Avenue at the Chicago River, a large factory complex, 1880 (Chicago Tribune, 14 Nov. 1880, 9)
WABASH AVENUE, near Van Buren Street, two blocks of stores for B.P. Hutchinson, 1880 (Chicago Tribune, 14 Nov. 1880, 9)
LASALLE STREET, four stores “adjoining the Marine Building”, for an unnamed client, 1880 (Chicago Tribune, 14 Nov. 1880, 9)
FIFTH AVENUE, two stores “adjoining the Briggs House’, for an unnamed client, 1880 (Chicago Tribune, 14 Nov. 1880, 9)
FRANKLIN STREET, a block of 8 stores “adjoining the Field, Leiter & Co. warehouse”, for an unnamed client, 1880 (Chicago Tribune, 14 Nov. 1880, 9)
NORTH EUCLID AVENUE, residence for Thomas S. Rattle, 1885 (A.I.A Guide to the Chicago, 1993, 323)
SOUTH KIMBARK AVENUE, residence for George L. Miller, 1888 (A.I.A. Guide to Chicago, 1993, 411, illus.)
CASINO THEATRE, Archer Avenue at State Street, with 13 stores on the State Street side, 1889 (Chicago Tribune, 17 March 1889, 31, descrip.)
CORNELL AVENUE, large residence for Robert W. Hyman Jr., 1889 (Daily Inter-Ocean [Chicago], 14 July 1889, 18)
(works in the U.S.A. outside Chicago)
COCHRANE & GARNSEY
SPRINGFIELD, ILL., The Illinois State Capitol Building, won in a competition, 1867 (Woodstock Sentinel [Woodstock, Illinois], 1 August 1867, 2, descrip.; Henry-Russell Hitchcock & William Seale, Temples of Democracy: The State Capitols of the USA, 1976, 169-70, illus.)
BELOIT, WISC., Memorial Hall at Beloit College, College Street, 1867-69, and now called The Logan Museum of Anthropology (Chicago Tribune, 28 June 1867, 2, descrip.)
G.O. GARNSEY
FRUITPORT, MICH. [near Muskegon], The Pomana House Hotel, a large summer hotel at the head of Spring Lake, 1869-71; burned 1875; rebuilt; but burned again in 1881 (Hartford Courant [Hartford, Conn.], 22 May 1872, 1)
PLYMOUTH, INDIANA, St. Thomas Episcopal Church, North Center Street at West Adams Street, 1870 (Marshall County Republican [Plymouth, Ind.], 24 Feb. 1870, 3, descrip.)
SYCAMORE, ILL., St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Somonauk Street, c. 1875 (Daily Chronicle [De Kalb, Ill.], 16 April 1998, Insights Section, 20)
DIXON, ILL., The Opera House, 1876; burned early 1903, and rebuilt by Garnsey, but later burned 1920 (Evening Telegraph [Dixon], 3 Aug. 1903, 1)
DE KALB, ILL., Methodist Church, 1879 (The Chronicle [De Kalb], 14 June 1879, 4, descrip.)
DE KALB, ILL., residence for Issac L. Ellwood, c. 1880 (Daily Chronicle [De Kalb], 27 Feb. 1931, 1 & 13, descrip.)
JOLIET, ILL., High School, 1880 (Chicago Tribune, 16 Sept. 1880, 9, t.c.; 14 Nov. 1880, 9)
EAU CLAIRE, WISC., The Opera House, 1883; demol. c. 1932 (Eau Claire Leader, 15 Sept. 1883, 4)
DE KALB, ILL., residence for Hiram Ellwood, North Third Street, 1884 (Daily Chronicle [De Kalb], 30 Sept. 1984, p. 5A)
MARENGO, ILL., large residence at 321 East Washington Street, 1885-86 (Chicago Tribune, 21 May 1995, Section 18, Tempo Northwest Section, 4; History of Marengo Homes, 1995, illus.)
SYCAMORE, ILL., residence for David A. Syme, located at 420 Somonauk Street, c. 1885, a copy of the design for the “Hyde Park Villa” plan published in the architectural journal called The National Builder [Chicago], in 1885 (Daily Chronicle [De Kalb], 26 April 1998, Insights Section, 20, illus.)
SYCAMORE, ILL., residence for Charles Boyton, North Main Street, 1886-87 (Daily Chronicle [De Kalb], 26 April 1998, Insights Section, 20, illus.)
PORT HURON, MICH., residence for John J. Jenkinson, Military Street, 1887, a copy of his “Hyde Park Villa” design published in the National Builder journal in 1885, and later replicated in Sarnia, Ontario in 1893 for William Lawrence.
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, Academy of Music, Washington Avenue, between 13th Street and 14th Street, 1889 (Daily Inter-Ocean [Chicago], 14 July 1889, 18)
OREGON, ILL., [near Rockford, Ill.], Ogle County Court House, South Fifth Street, 1890-91 (Chicago Tribune, 22 Aug. 1891, 9, illus. & descrip.)
PIQUA, OHIO, Opera House, for Charles H. May, 1902-03 (Daily Inter-Ocean [Chicago], 18 May 1902, Section Four, 2, illus. & descrip.; Piqua Daily Call [Piqua], 18 Feb. 1903, 8, illus.)
MENOMINEE, MICH., Opera House, 1902 (Minneapolis Journal, 10 Juyl 1902, 12, descrip.)
BLUFFTON, INDIANA, Grand Opera House, Johnson Street at Washington Street, 1903 (Indianapolis Journal, 7 Nov. 1903, 5, illus. & descrip.)
RUSSELLVILLE, KENTUCKY, Opera House, Main Street at Bank Street, 1903-04 (The Tennessean [Nashville], 17 Oct. 1903, 10, illus. & descrip.)
SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, Order of Elks Lodge No. 235, 1903-04 (Daily Inter-Ocean [Chicago], 5 Dec. 1903, 12)
COMPETITIONS
CHICAGO, ILL., The City Hall, 1873. Garnsey was in partnership with John C. Rankin at this time, and they were one of 53 architects who submitted proposals in this two-stage competition. Their design, signed “Semper Resurgens” and presented in the Italian style, was one of 18 submissions selected for the second stage (Chicago Tribune, 3 April 1873, 4, descrip; 4 April 1893, 3). The eventual winner was Otto Matz of Chicago.
KNOXVILLE, IOWA, Marion County Courthouse, East Main Street, 1895. Garnsey was one of 17 architects from the Midwest who submitted a design for this civic building (Des Moines Register, 4 Aug. 1895, 1, report on the competition). The winner was Mifflin E. Bell.