Archives West Finding Aid

Georgius Y. Cannon was born in Salt Lake City in 1892, the last child of George Q. Cannon and Caroline Cannon. His father died when he was nine and his mother died two years later. After the death of his parents, he was raised by a half brother. He became fascinated with architecture at age 13 when his half brother decided to build a house and he never after considered any course other than to become an architect. After he graduated from high school he went on a mission for the L.D.S. Church in Germany where, due to his fluency in German, he was retained for three and a half years and translated the Articles of Faith into German. After his return from Germany he attended M.I.T., graduating in 1918 at the age of 26, and he then served in the United States Army.

In 1920 Cannon returned to Salt Lake City and entered the architectural firm of Cannon and Fetzer for a brief period before starting his own firm with another young architect, John Gunther. Cannon was, at this time, one of the charter members of the American Institute of Architects. After Gunther left to finish his own degree and M.I.T., Cannon joined the firm of Ware and Treganza for a year and, after Ware and Treganza separated, he did some work with Treganza and some of his own for a time.

Finding that there was very little work available in Utah at this time, Cannon with his wife, Phyllis Winder Cannon, and their daughter Dorothy, moved to California. There he joined the firm of an M.I.T. schoolmate, Wallace Neff, as office manager. The job lasted until 1930 and the Depression. After doing a couple of houses in Salt Lake City, he worked for the Mortgage Insurance Company in Los Angeles in non-architectural capacities until 1935. By this time he was again getting work and continued in private practice until the outbreak of war in 1941.

During the war Cannon worked first in the shipyards and then in the motion pictures studios until, in 1946, he went back to his own practice. Cannon continued in practice in California until 1953 when his wife died and he decided to move his practice to Salt Lake City, where he had family and friends and where a good part of his residential practice had always been. Cannon continued in active practice until 1977. In that year, at the age of 85, he retired and moved to Pasadena California to be close to his daughter.

His Glendale Ward Chapel, designed in 1935, won an award from the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company for its use of glass and was also influential in its use of an outdoor circulation theme. Cannon also served on the Board of Temple Architects working on the Idaho Falls Temple and submitted a design for the Los Angeles Temple. In addition, he designed the Arlington Ward Chapel in California and, after his return to Salt Lake City, the Third and Eighth Wards in Layton and the Federal Heights Ward Chapel in Salt Lake City. Cannon's only restoration job, that of the Beehive House, was also undertaken for the L.D.S. Church. Cannon also did some commercial projects, the most notable being the design of the Little America Motel at Cheyenne, Wyoming, and acting as consulting architect for the Little America Hotel in Salt Lake City.

Georgius Cannon received various professional honors. He was elected to the College of Fellows of the A.I.A. in 1969, and in 1975 was given an Award of Appreciation by the Utah Chapter of the A.I.A. and honored by the Emeritus Club of the University of Utah.

For more information see the Register of the Papers of Georgius Y. Cannon, Ms. 252 (Manuscripts Division).