Julius Germuiller

Francis operated a saddlery and harness business on 7th Street NW in present-day Chinatown, then a neighborhood with a large German population.

It's unknown whether or not he attended architecture school or who he apprenticed with, but by 1879, he was listed in the Washington City Directory as an architect.

[1] Germuiller designed more than 300 buildings, most of which were residential, and frequently worked for real estate developers A. Behrends, Diller B. Groff and James Healy.

[1] Germuiller retired in the mid-1920s and resided at the Little Sisters of the Poor Home on H Street NE at the time of his death in 1929.

[3] He is considered one of Washington, D.C.'s "most prolific and noted designers of row buildings" of the late 19th and early 20th century and known for his "intricate details and fine ornamentation rendered in brick and stone.