Francis Johnson (architect)

See Francis Johnston (architect) for Irish architect of similar name.

Francis Johnson was the subject of a monograph in 2001 as well as 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 trained at the Leeds School of Architecture. He toured Europe in 1931 on a travelling scholarship before going to work for Allderidge & Clark in Hull. He began his own practice in 1937 in his home town of Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire. His career was interrupted by the Second World War and he served in the Royal Engineers from 1943 to 1946.

Work

Francis Johnson’s favoured field of work was domestic architecture and he is particularly known for his country houses in the 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 and Fairfax House, York.^[2] In his approach to restoration, involving detailed research into the original colour schemes of buildings, he was ahead of his time in the 1960s.

Churches

St Margaret, Hilston

• St Margaret, Hilston, East Riding of Yorkshire (1956–7).
• Ascension, Calvert Road, Kingston upon Hull chancel (1957–8).
• St Michael and All Angels, Orchard Park, Kingston upon Hull (1957–8).
• Holy Nativity RC, Scarborough, North Yorkshire (1954–5).
• St Luke's RC, Scarborough, North Yorkshire (1955–6).
• St George RC, Scarborough, North Yorkshire (1957–8).
• 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 (1967–8).
• St Luke, Willerby (1968).

Private houses

• The Old Rectory, Winestead restoration (1947–8).
• Sunderlandwick Hall, Sunderlandwick (1962–3).
• Settrington House, Settrington rebuilt after fire in 1963 (1965). Located at 54° 7'14.95"N 0°42'59.46"W.
• Whitwell-on-the-Hill, Malton (1969).
• Corn Exchange House, Bridlington (1972).
• Garrowby Hall, Garrowby south range (1981–2).
• Hilborough House, Norfolk designed 1989–90 (1996–9).

Other

St Chad's College, Durham.

• The King's School, Tynemouth, Northumberland new block (1959–60)
• St Anne's Houses, Bridlington (1961–5).
• St Chad's College, Durham (1961–4).
• Beach House, Grenada (1968–9).
• 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).

Archives

The archives have been deposited with Hull University Archives at the Hull History Centre.

In November 2013 the archives secured an award of £32,729 from the National Cataloguing Grants Programme administered by The National Archives. The project to catalogue and make this material available was started in January 2014 and ran through to August 2015.^[3]

References

• John Martin Robinson & David Neave, (2001), Francis Johnson Architect, Oblong Creative, ISBN 978-0-9536574-3-8.
• Nikolaus Pevsner & 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.
• Hull History Centre Francis Johnson Archive