Like many building contractors of the day, Dennis W. Nichols shifted to the role of architect during the later years of his career despite a lack of any formal training. He was born on March 28, 1868 in Illinois and grew up in Indiana. Nichols became a carpenter by trade, however, many details about his early life are unknown.
By 1900 at the age of 32 he was working in Pendleton, Oregon as a carpenter/ building contractor. Then after a short stint in Baker City, Oregon, he moved to Vancouver in 1906 and began marketing himself as an architect.
His know project include the County Poor Farm, Pendleton, OR (1903); an Opera House in Kelso (1907); the Vancouver Carnegie Library (1909, with William Kauffman); the IOOF Hall in Yacolt (1914); Lampert School in Ridgefield (1917); a 3-story addition at Vancouver High School (1919); the American Legion Building in Vancouver (c1920); an addition to Ridgefield Public School (1921); Odell School in Hood River, OR (1921); and the Masonic Temple in Centralia (1922).
While he had a short-lived partnership with G. Albert Carpenter (1909), generally he practiced alone, but was often asked to be the local supervising architect for projects by other architects whom resided outside of city. He also served as the local supervising architect for the School for the Death – Admin Building (1917, with Julius Zittel); and the Kitchen and Shop School for the Blind (1917, with Julius Zittel).
His career spanned for 16 years, and at the time of his death he was the only practicing architect in the city. Nichols passed away on May 10, 1922 a few days after he took a deadly fall at the construction site of the Harney Elementary School. He is buried in Indianapolis, Indiana at Anderson Warren Park Cemetery.
By Michael Houser, State Architecural Historian - Oct 2021
