George Francis Trapp was born in Chicago, Illinois on March 20, 1900 to Charles C. and Fanny Trapp. The family moved to Arkansas in 1914, where George Trapp attended North Little Rock High School. Trapp developed an early interest in drawing and worked as a draftsman for the Little Rock architect John Parks Almand. While working for Almand, Trapp’s interest in architecture blossomed. Trapp studied at the University of Arkansas (which offered no instruction in Architecture until 1946) and received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from Columbia University in 1926. After graduation Trapp worked to save for a trip abroad, and in 1927, he sailed for Europe. He spent more than a year in Paris, where he earned a diplôme from l'École des Beaux-Arts. He also studied printmaking with the noted American printmaker Louis Orr. Trapp recorded his travels in France and throughout Europe with finely crafted drawings prepared at many of the sites he visited.

Trapp returned to Arkansas and began a productive career in architecture. His early professional work included supervising WPA projects around the state, and subsequently practiced with the noted Little Rock architect Eugene John Stern. He married Linda Wiles in 1937. He went on to start his own architecture firm, eventually partnering with Sam Clippard and Hal Phelps. Trapp was involved in the design of many significant buildings in Little Rock, including Robinson Auditorium, the Arkansas State Education Building, Pulaski Heights Presbyterian Church, and Hall High School. After retirement, Trapp returned to printmaking, using the presses made available to him at the Arkansas Arts Center. There, he printed from plates he had produced much earlier, and also prepared new plates based on his drawings from his European travels. He died on February 18, 1980.