Background
George L. Heins was born in 1860 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
George L. Heins was born in 1860 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
At an early age he entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a student in architecture, and after graduat¬ing acquired practical experience working in offices in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
He moved to New York to launch his career in that city, and in 1886 established partnership with Mr. LaFarge.
From an early age Mr. Heins had been deeply interested in church architecture, and in his preparatory work made an intensive study of Cathedrals in Europe. When the competition for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York was announced, the partners prepared for entry their Romanesque conception of the proposed structure, and against twenty-five better known architects won the competition. As original architects of the church, the firm won wide recognition, and when Mr. Heins died in 1907 the great choir had been erected. For completion of the structure a new competition was instituted, and with the acceptance of plans submitted by the firm of Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson, the huge edifice was finally completed in the Gothic style. Among the outstanding works of the firm were the Church of the Blessed Sacrament at Providence, R. I.; St. Paul’s at Rochester, N. Y.; Church of the Good Shepherd, Shelton, Conn.; Roman Catholic churches at Tuxedo and West Point, New York; St. Matthews in Washington, D.C., at 1725 Rhode Island Ave.; Fourth Presbyterian Church in New York, West End Avenue, comer of 93rd Street, interior of the Church of the Incarnation, New York; alterations to Grace Church and interior work in Church of St. Paul.