George Siekkinen Obituary

Noted historical architect George O. Siekkinen, Jr., 75, died of cancer related causes on April 2, 2025 at the Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine. He was born February 27, 1950 in Warren, the son of George O. and Martha Kangaskoski Siekkinen, Sr. George was a 1968 Warren G. Harding graduate. He graduated from Case Western Reserve in architectural design and history. He received his master's degree from O.S.U. College of Engineering, School of Architecture. He also studied at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and the Boston Architectural College. He was the senior architect of the National Trust for the Historic Preservation from 1987 to 2008 and provided advice and consultation for a large and diverse collection of historic house museums including the Woodrow Wilson House in Washington, D.C., Kykuit in Pocantico Hills, NY, and the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park, IL. He was a key figure in acquiring historic properties, placing preservation easements on them and later selling them for the benefit of the National Trust. He also managed the Trust's easement collection of more than 100 historic properties from Maine to California that included Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, FL, a large Maine farm and many historic houses in Washington, D.C. George served as an architect and historic preservation advisor for the General Services Administration's Public Buildings Service from 2008 to 2015 where he advised regional offices and participated in planning teams including St. Elizabeth's, the Old Post Office and Observatory Hill in Washington, D.C., the Customs House in Philadelphia and the Foreign Affairs Security Training Center in Ft. Pickett, VA. In private practice, he worked for the San Francisco office of The Ehrenkrantz Group as the lead historic preservation specialist and designer. A key project he led as job captain and preservation designer was the rehabilitation, restoration and seismic retrofit of the Salt Lake City and County Building. It was the first use of the base-isolation engineering system for seismic risk reduction in the U.S. George worked as a historical architect for the Nation Park Service Western Regional offices and helped manage the federal historic preservation tax credit program for the rehabilitation of private historic buildings in that region. In retirement, he was a docent and board member of the historic Jonathan Fisher house in Blue Hill, ME, where he maintained a second home. He also served on an advisory committee for the rehabilitation and restoration of the Smithsonian Castle. He advocated for the use of a base-isolation system to reduce seismic risk. Installation of the system is part of the current Castle project. The 1855 Castle was damaged by an earthquake in 2011. George is survived by a sister, Dierdre (George) Warden of Delaware, OH; a brother, Fredrick (Dottie) Siekkinen of N. Huntingdon, PA and Fort Meyers, FL; nieces, Kira Ann Siekkinen of Ft. Meyers, FL, Liisa Warden Sironi and husband Jeff, Sara Beth (Bryan) Livingston and nephew, Thomas (Haley) Warden, all of Delaware; and close friends, Thomas W. Sweeney and Rhonda Sydnor of Lynchburg, VA. Graveside service will be held at the Kinsman Cemetery, Church Street, Kinsman, Oh 44428 on Monday, July 28, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of George O. Siekkinen, please visit our floral store.