Background
George H. Ropes was born in 1868 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
George H. Ropes was born in 1868 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
The young man studied architecture at the Kansas State University, and received a practical training in his father’s office.
He was first employed by the firm of Kimball & Walker in its branch office in Omaha, Neb., where he worked until 1895. During that year he secured a position with the firm of Donaldson & Meier in Detroit, and after being employed as Superintendent of construction on the new Union Trust Building, on the N. E. corner of Griswold and Congress Streets, was retained in the firm's office as draftsman, later promoted to the post of head designer.
Early in the 1900’s he began practice in Detroit under the firm name of Pollmar & Ropes, of which William F. Lundy became a later member. The partners engaged in a general practice with their major works in Detroit, note-worthy examples including the nine-story Chatsworth Building at 630 Merrick Avenue; Sherbrooke Apartments, Second Boulevard and Hancock Avenue; Yorba Hotel, Lafayette Boulevard; Priscilla Inn, Cass Avenue and Ledyard Street and the Hoden Apartments on Second Boulevard at Hubbard Avenue.