Designing chiefly in an ornate Queen Anne style, in his lifetime his unique houses were locally referred to as "Nickersonian."

Nickerson joined the American Institute of Architects as a Fellow in 1875, and the same year was a founding member of the Rhode Island chapter.

[2] Nickerson's home, 71 Angell Street, is now Larned House of the Rhode Island School of Design.

Upon her death, which occurred August 30, 1916 in Narragansett, her remaining estate was divided between the Providence Public Library and the Rhode Island School of Design.

[10] The latter is part of a pair of portraits posthumously commissioned in 1909 by Lyra Brown Nickerson of her parents from Albert Edward Jackson.