Jim McClure
Robert Niess and his kinsmen are deeply interested in the Elmwood Mansion, even 65 years since it passed from his family’s hands.
Born in York, he is the grandson of the prominent J. Edgar Small family who lived there and heard many stories about this landmark from his mother, Ann Small Niess. He has visited it many times after it passed from owner to owner. Today, Elmwood House, as the family calls it, is owned by Inch & Co., a construction company that has remodeled it as home for its real estate and property management divisions.
Niess has another interest – a vocation, really – that draws him to the mansion. He’s a principal in Chestnutt-Niess architectural firm and longtime architectural faculty member and vice dean of the Peter Behrens School of Arts, both in Germany.