I.R. Timlin

{{short description|American architect}}

{{Infobox architect

| name = Irving Ray Timlin

| image =

| image_size =

| caption =

| nationality = American

| birth_date = {{birth date|1880|12|15|df=y}}

| birth_place = Cleveland, Ohio

| death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1955|10|18|1880|12|15}}

| death_place = University City, Missouri

| significant_buildings =

}}

Irving Ray Timlin (December 15, 1880 – October 18, 1955) was an American architect. He spent his entire career with the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, where he was chief architect during the company's rapid expansion in the first half of the twentieth century. From the 1910s to the 1940s, Timlin designed or co-designed 140 buildings for the company in cities across the midwestern and southwestern United States.[http://822wilmington.wordpress.com/2010/12/06/i-r-timlin-joins-the-aia/i-r-timlin-obit/ - Irving Timlin Dies, Retired Architect for Telephone Co. - Retrieved 31 March 2011]

Timlin joined the Bell Telephone Company of Missouri in 1904 as a draftsman in Kansas City. In 1907 he was made assistant equipment engineer, then architect in 1911. Timlin moved to St. Louis, headquarters of Bell Telephone's Southwestern System, in 1917. He retired in 1945.[http://822wilmington.wordpress.com/2010/12/06/i-r-timlin-joins-the-aia/i-r-timlin-obit/ - Irving Timlin Dies, Retired Architect for Telephone Co. - Accessed 31 March 2011]

Timlin was architect or associate architect of several skyscrapers, many of which are still in use. These include

• Oak Tower, Kansas City, Missouri;
• Three SBC Plaza (308 S. Akard St.), Dallas, Texas;{{cite book | last = Blossom | first = Alfred | title = Building to the skies: the romance of the skyscraper | publisher = The Studio, Limited | year = 1934 | page = 32}}
• Southwestern Bell Building, St. Louis, Missouri;{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110604192205/http://www.emporis.com/application/?nav=building&lng=3&id=southwesternbellbuilding-streetlouis-mo-usa - Southwestern Bell Building, St. Louis, U.S.A. - Emporis.com - Retrieved 31 March 2011]}} and
• Southwestern Bell Building (105 Auditorium Cir.), San Antonio, Texas.{{cite book | last = Henry | first = Jay | title = Architecture in Texas | publisher = University of Texas Press | year = 1993 | page = 183}}