Ibsen Nelsen

Ibsen Andreas Nelsen (October 2, 1919 – July 19, 2001) was an American architect active in the Pacific Northwest. He was born to a Danish immigrant family in Ruskin, Nebraska, which fled west during the Dust Bowl and settled in Medford, Oregon. After serving in the Pacific during World War II, he received his Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Oregon in 1951. He moved to Seattle, where after working for several smaller firms he began his own practice in 1953. He partnered with Russell Sabin shortly afterwards, with Gordon Bennett Varey joining the firm in 1961 to form Nelsen, Sabin, & Varey, where he designed projects such as the home of painter Morris Graves in Loleta, California. He left to form his own practice in 1967, where he designed the Museum of Flight and a series of academic facilities for Western Washington University.