Nichols, Minerva Parker, -1949

Minerva Parker Nichols was born ca. 1861 near Chicago, IL., daughter of Amanda Melvina Doane Parker and granddaughter of the architect-builder Seth Brown Doane. During her early years her mother worked as a very active assistant in Doane's architectural office, an experience which made a strong impression on her young mind. She studied architecture in Philadelphia at the Franklin Institute Drawings School (honorable mention, 1884-1885; certificate, 1886), and entered active practice in Philadelphia in 1888. During her first year of practice she worked in the office of Edwin W. Thorne and studied at the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Arts (1888-1889).

Minerva Parker was one of the first American female architects to establish a successful professional practice without entering into a partnership with a male architect. She also lectured in architecture and ornamental design at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women (later the Moore School of Art and Design). Fifty-three commissions are listed in the Philadelphia Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide between 1888 and 1893. Her professional practice specialized in residential architecture, and in addition she designed churches, schools, commercial buildings and women's clubs. She received national recognition by being selected to design the Queen Isabella Pavilion for the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893, but her design was not built. In 1891 Minerva Parker married the Reverend William Ichabod Nichols. She continued active architectural practice until the birth of her first child in 1894, when she moved her office into her home and continued to practice on a more limited basis. After she and her husband moved to Brooklyn in 1896, she undertook only a small number of projects, primarily for friends and relatives.