Nelle Peters

Nelle Elizabeth Nichols Peters (1884–1974) was one of Kansas City's most prolific architects.[1]

Nelle Peters
Born
Nellie Elizabeth Nichols

(1884-12-11)December 11, 1884
Niagara, North Dakota
DiedOctober 7, 1974(1974-10-07) (aged 89)
Sedalia, Missouri
Alma materBuena Vista College
OccupationArchitect
SpouseWilliam H. Peters (1911–1923)
Buildings

Biography

She was born Nellie Elizabeth Nichols in a sod house in Niagara, North Dakota.[2] She attended Buena Vista College at Storm Lake, Iowa, where she did well in drawing and mathematics. As a result, she decided to become an architect, initially finding work as a drafter with Eisentrout, Colby, and Pottenger in Sioux City where she stayed for four years while taking correspondence courses in architecture. In 1907, she was sent to work in the firm's Kansas City office but in 1909, she left to establish her own business.

The Ambassador Hotel (1929) is in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

In 1911, she married William H. Peters, a designer with the Kansas City Terminal Railway, and continued to work. Following her 1923 divorce, she entered a particularly productive phase,[3] designing a multitude of buildings over the next five years.[2] Among her most outstanding works in Kansas City are the Ambassador Hotel, the Luzier Cosmetic Company building, and several apartment buildings, including the "literary group" named after famous authors on the west side of Country Club Plaza.[1]

Her work also included buildings in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Columbia, Clinton, Boonville, and Jefferson City, Missouri; Nashville, North Carolina; Newark, New Jersey; and Columbus, Ohio.[3]

Except for two periods of illness, Peters remained an active architect until retirement in 1965. She specialized in the design of apartment buildings and hotels,[2] and she designed churches, residences, and commercial buildings. Frequent use of terra cotta ornamentation is a characteristic of her style.

Her last years were spent in a nursing home in Sedalia, Missouri where she died in 1974.[1][3][2] She is buried in Memorial Park Cemetery in Kansas City.[4]

Legacy

Peters was considered one of Kansas City's most prolific architects, and she designed nearly 1,000 buildings.

Two districts in Kansas City have been named in her honor on the Kansas City Register of Historic Places. In 1982, the Nelle E. Peters Historic District was dedicated in a section of buildings at the corner of Summit Avenue and 37th Street.[5] In 1989, the Nelle E. Peters Thematic Historic District was established within Country Club Plaza.[6]

A district is named after her in Kansas City on the National Register of Historic Places as of July 23, 2009. The Nelle E. Peters Troost Avenue Historic District includes six apartment buildings in the block of 2700 Troost Avenue.[7]

Peters is one of 13 women honored for contributions to Kansas City, Missouri, on the Women's Leadership Fountain at the Paseo and E 9th St.[8] In 2021, she was posthumously inducted into the Starr Women's Hall of Fame, which honors women who have made Kansas City a better place to live.[9]

References
  1. Allaback, Sarah (May 23, 2008). The first American women architects. University of Illinois Press. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-252-03321-6. Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  2. "Nelle E. Peters (1884 - 1974)". Historic Missourians. State Historical Society of Missouri. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  3. "Nelle E. Peters (1884-1974) Architectural Records (KC0041)," Archived April 6, 2016, at the Wayback Machine State Historical Society of Missouri. Retrieved February 17, 2012.
  4. "Cemetery". March 20, 2018.
  5. Engel, Elizabeth. "Nelle E. Peters (1884-1974)". State Historical Society of Missouri. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  6. Roberts, Rob (June 15, 2015). "Preservationists move to block demo of historic Plaza-area apartments". Kansas City Business Journal. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  7. Missouri MPS Peters, Nelle E., Troost Avenue Historic District. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  8. "The Women's Leadership Fountain". Kansas City Parks & Recreation. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  9. "Starr Women's Hall of Fame Reveals 2021 Class of Inductees". University of Missouri - Kansas City. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
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