Austin History Center

Girard Kinney was born in 1943 at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. After the war and his father’s completion of an assignment at the Pentagon, the family returned to Austin. Kinney grew up on Kinney Avenue in South Austin. After graduation from Travis High School he entered the University of Texas School of Architecture. While attending college he worked for the Texas Game and Fish Commission, Calcasieu Lumber Company, the Texas Theater on The Drag, various professors in the School of Architecture, and Eugene Wukasch. Later he worked for Brooks Barr Graeber and White and for Taniguchi Shefelman Vacker and Minter. His first firm, Billington Kinney Stone Partnership, was formed in 1978. That firm became Kinney and Stone, then Kinney Kaler Sanders and Crews, and finally Kinney and Associates. Notable projects were Presidio Theaters, Fitzgerald Theaters, the Presidio Building, Echelon Office Buildings, Kaliedo Buildings, the Whisenhunt Theatre at Zachary Scott Theatre, and the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge. K