George Turner
George Palmer Turner (born in Birmingham) was an architect, best known for his Mission-style designs for the first homes built in the Hollywood residential development.
Biography
After finishing high school in Birmingham, Turner began working in a local architectural office. Inspired by the profession, he decided to pursue a university degree and traveled to the University of Pennsylvania where he won numerous medals on his way to graduating from the architectural design course with honors.
After graduating, he had the opportunity to spend time in France studying at the École nationale des beaux arts de Dijon and traveling between Paris, Versailles and the Riviera making sketches of landscapes, chateaux, palaces, townscapes and Classical ruins.
He returned to Philadelphia where he took a position with the office of Clarence Wunder, who assigned him to the interior decorations of the Pennsylvania Hotel. He left Wunder to become the interim chief designer for the firm of Simon and Simon, and stayed on as assistant when Grant Simon returned from his European tour. While there he worked on the Fidelity Trust Building and several other notable projects.
In the early 1920s, Turner was convinced by his friends from Birmingham to return to the city to open a practice. He did so in partnership with a man named McPherson in 1924. The company's offices were in the Martin Building.
During an early meeting with Clyde Nelson, the developer of Hollywood, Turner showed some watercolor sketches of houses in Coral Gables, Florida which impressed Nelson and won him the job. Through that commission he was able to produce homes for some of Birmingham's prominent families, including residences for Charles L. Ireland and John Harbert, Jr. he also gained publicity by designed the "Age-Herald Show House" for the Birmingham Age-Herald newspaper.
Projects
Hollywood
- T. A. Nickel residence
- George Dye residence
- W. W. Gard residence
- Clarence Lloyd residence
- John Harbert residence
- J. E. Salie residence
Birmingham district
- Charles Ireland residence, Redmont Park
- J. S. Coxe residence
- S. J. Brock residence, Roebuck
- Roy Summers residence, Roebuck
- Oliver Cox residence, Overlook Road
- Leo E. Bashinsky residence, Clairmont Avenue
- B. F. Reynolds residence, Mountain Brook Estates
- Chateau Avalon Apartments for Robert Kazian
- Highland Lake Land Company filling station
- Rocky Ridge Golf and Country Club
- East Lake United Methodist Church education building
- Mercy Home dormitory
- Ensley First Methodist Church education building
- Birmingham Fire Station No. 10, 1926
- Birmingham Fire Station No. 22, 1927
- Jefferson County Home, 1931
- East Lake Park bathhouse, 1931
- Renovations to the Simpson Building at Birmingham-Southern College, 1940
Notable proposals
- Proposal for Birmingham municipal office building (City Hall) on West 20th Street
- Proposal for Hotel Yamakita in Shelby Springs
Elsewhere
- St Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, Tallassee
References
- Hamilton, George W., editor (1926) Beautiful Homes and Buildings of Alabama. Turner & McPherson, Architects