Biography

Earl Nisbet was born on June 17, 1926 in San Jose, California. Nisbet joined the army after high school serving in WWII. Upon returning to civilian life, he enrolled in an architecture and engineering college in San Francisco, where he was inspired by the designs of Frank Lloyd Wright. Following college, he worked as a carpenter’s apprentice and assisted in the construction of the Midglen residence in Woodside, a home that was being built by Frank Lloyd Wright apprentices. This experience influenced Nisbet to apply for a fellowship to study with Frank Lloyd Wright and in 1950 he was accepted as a Taliesin Fellow in Wisconsin. He spent three years at Taliesin and Taliesin West before pursing an independent career designing homes in Northern California. In 1958, following an extended stay in Tahiti, he moved to Hawaii and established a practice in Waikiki. During this period, Nisbet built the Doo House. He returned to California in the early 1960s where he continued to design residential and commercial buildings. Nisbet’s architectural drawings reflect the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright throughout his career.