Francis Johnson (architect)

See Francis Johnston (architect) for Irish architect with a similar name.

Francis Johnson was the subject of a monograph in 2001, and of an exhibition at the RIBA.

Francis Frederick Johnson CBE (18 April 1911 – 29 September 1995), was an English architect, born in Bridlington in the East Riding of Yorkshire.^[1]

Education and early career

Johnson studied at the Leeds School of Architecture and then toured Europe in 1931 on a travelling scholarship before joining the firm of Allderidge & Clark in Hull. He started his own practice in 1937 in his home town of Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire. This was interrupted by the Second World War, when he served in the Royal Engineers from 1943 to 1946.

Work

Francis Johnson’s favoured field of work was domestic architecture. He is particularly known for his country houses in a Georgian style. He designed a number of churches in the post-war period for clients, including the Church of England Commissioners. These simple buildings often show the influence of the Scandinavian classical architecture he had admired on his European tour.

Francis Johnson also restored and remodelled a large number of historic buildings, including Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire, Belton House, Lincolnshire, Burton Agnes Hall, East Yorkshire, and Fairfax House, York.^[2] His approach to restoration involved detailed research into the original colour schemes of buildings, which was a concern ahead of his time in the 1960s.

Churches

St Margaret, Hilston

• St Margaret, Hilston, East Riding of Yorkshire (1956–57)
• Ascension, Calvert Road, Kingston upon Hull chancel (1957–58)
• St Michael and All Angels, Orchard Park, Kingston upon Hull (1957–58)
• Holy Nativity RC, Scarborough, North Yorkshire (1954–55)
• St Luke's RC, Scarborough, North Yorkshire (1955–56)
• St George RC, Scarborough, North Yorkshire (1957–58)
• Methodist Chapel, Ripon (1958–60)
• St Joseph's RC, Newby, Scarborough, North Yorkshire (1958–60)
• Methodist Church, Sewerby (1963)
• St Thomas, Pennywell, Sunderland (1964)
• St Christopher, Tong, West Yorkshire (1967–68)
• St Luke, Willerby (1968)

Other

St Chad's College, Durham.

• The King's School, Tynemouth, Northumberland new block (1959–60)
• St Anne's Houses, Bridlington (1961–65)
• St Chad's College, Durham (1961–64)
• Beach House, Grenada (1968–69)
• Rectory, Church Green, Bridlington (1970)
• Rectory, Cottingham, East Riding of Yorkshire (1973)
• The Pavilion (Opera House), Thorpe Tilney Hall, Lincolnshire (1976–80)
• Swimming Pool Pavilion, Burton Agnes Hall (1985)

References

• John Martin Robinson and David Neave, (2001), Francis Johnson Architect, Oblong Creative, ISBN 978-0-9536574-3-8
• Nikolaus Pevsner and David Neave, (1972, 2nd ed., 1995), Yorkshire: York and the East Riding: The Buildings of England, ISBN 0-300-09593-7

External links

• Francis Johnson & Partners
• Jonathan Glancey in the Guardian on the 2001 exhibition of Francis Johnson's work in London from The Guardian.
• Article on London Exhibition from the Spectator.
• Article on recent work by Francis Johnson & Partners from Country Life.
• our_collections/ local_history_sources/ francis_johnson_archive.aspx Hull History Centre Francis Johnson Archive