''See

Francis Johnston (architect) Francis Johnston (1760 – 14 March 1829) was an Irish architect, best known for building the General Post Office (GPO) on O'Connell Street, Dublin. Life Johnston was born in Armagh, Ireland, son of William Johnston, also an architect, a ...

for Irish architect with a similar name.'' Francis Frederick Johnson (18 April 1911 – 29 September 1995), was an English architect born in

Bridlington Bridlington is a coastal town and a civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is about north of Hull and east of York. The Gypsey Race enters the North Sea at its harbour. The 2011 Cen ...

in the

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to t ...

. He was active in designing churches and country houses and restoring historic buildings.

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. This was interrupted by the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, when he served in the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

from 1943 to 1946.

Work

Francis Johnson’s favoured field of work was domestic architecture. He is known particularly for country houses in a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

style. He designed a number of churches in the post-war period for clients, including the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

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 Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire is an architecturally significant country house from the Elizabethan era, a leading example of the Elizabethan prodigy house. Built between 1590 and 1597 for Bess of Hardwick, it was designed by the architect Ro ...

, Derbyshire, Belton House, Lincolnshire,

Burton Agnes Hall Burton Agnes Hall is an Elizabethan manor house in the village of Burton Agnes, near Driffield in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was built by Sir Henry Griffith in 1601–10 to designs attributed to Robert Smythson. The older No ...

, East Yorkshire, and

Fairfax House Fairfax House is a Georgian townhouse located at No. 27, Castlegate, York, England, near Clifford's Tower and York Castle Museum. It was probably built in the early 1740s for a local merchant and in 1759 it was purchased by Charles Gregory Fai ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

. 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 Hilston is a village in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, near the North Sea coast in an area known as Holderness. It is situated approximately east of Kingston upon Hull city centre and north-west of Withernsea. It lies to the east of th ...

(1956–1957) *Ascension, Calvert Road,

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-east ...

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

'' (1957–1958) *St Michael and All Angels, Orchard Park,

(1957–1958) *Holy Nativity RC,

Scarborough, North Yorkshire Scarborough () is a seaside town in the Borough of Scarborough in North Yorkshire, England. Scarborough is located on the North Sea coastline. Historic counties of England, Historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire, the town lies between 10 ...

(1954–1955) *St Luke's RC, Scarborough, North Yorkshire (1955–1956) *St George RC, Scarborough, North Yorkshire (1957–1958) *Methodist Chapel,

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city ...

(1958–1960) *St Joseph's RC, Newby, Scarborough, North Yorkshire (1958–1960) *Methodist Church,

Sewerby Sewerby is a village in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England approximately north-east of Bridlington on the North Sea coast. The village is on Bridlington Bay and is the only south-facing resort in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Sewerby forms ...

(1963) *St Thomas,

Pennywell Pennywell is one of the UK's largest post-war social housing schemes, and is situated in the central-west area of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, North East England. Pennywell is the largest local authority housing estate in the City of Sunderland. ...

, Sunderland (1964) *St Christopher,

Tong, West Yorkshire Tong or Tong Village is a village in the City of Bradford metropolitan district, West Yorkshire, England. It is a historic village, and is sometimes thought to be a smaller version of the larger area of Tong, which is a local election ward. Hi ...

(1967–1968) *St Luke, Willerby (1968)

Private houses

* The Old Rectory, Winestead ''restoration'' (1947–1948) *Sunderlandwick Hall, Sunderlandwick (1962–1963) *Settrington House, Settrington ''rebuilt after fire in 1963'' (1965) *Whitwell-on-the-Hill, Malton (1969) *Corn Exchange House,

(1972) *Garrowby Hall,

Garrowby Garrowby is a hamlet in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately north of Pocklington town centre. It lies to the north of the A166 road and forms part of the civil parish of Kirby Underdale. Garrowby Hill is the su ...

''south range'' (1981–1982) *Hilborough House,

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

''designed 1989–90'' (1996–2000)

Other

Main buildings, St Chad's College (2006-08-12)

The King's School, Tynemouth Kings Priory School is a mixed all-through school and sixth form located in Tynemouth, Tyne and Wear, England. The current principal is Mr Philip Sanderson. The school has a Christian foundation as the largest member of the Woodard Corporation, ...

, Northumberland ''new block'' (1959–1960) *St Anne's Houses,

(1961–1965) *

St Chad's College , motto_English = Not what you have, but who you are , scarf = , established = 1904 , principal = Margaret Masson , senior_tutor = Eleanor Spencer-Regan , undergraduates = 409 , postgraduates = 150 , website = , coordinates = , location_map ...

, Durham (1961–1964) *Beach House,

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...

(1968–1969) *

Rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically ow ...

, Church Green, Bridlington (1970) *Rectory,

Cottingham, East Riding of Yorkshire Cottingham is a large village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England with average affluence. It lies north-west of the centre of Kingston upon Hull, and south-east of Beverley on the eastern edge o ...

(1973) *The Pavilion (

Opera House An opera house is a theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets. While some venues are constructed specifically for o ...

), Thorpe Tilney Hall,

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

(1976–1980) *Swimming Pool Pavilion,

(1985)

References

John Martin Robinson John Martin Robinson FSA (born 1948) is a British architectural historian and officer of arms. He was born in Preston, Lancashire, and educated at Fort Augustus Abbey, a Benedictine school in Scotland, the University of St Andrews (graduating ...

and David Neave, (2001), ''Francis Johnson Architect'', Oblong Creative, *

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

and David Neave, (1972, 2nd ed., 1995), ''Yorkshire: York and the East Riding: The Buildings of England'',

External links

Francis Johnson & Partners
from

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

. * ttp://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3724/is_200108/ai_n8984738 Article on London Exhibitionfrom the

Spectator ''Spectator'' or ''The Spectator'' may refer to: *Spectator sport, a sport that is characterized by the presence of spectators, or watchers, at its matches *Audience Publications Canada * ''The Hamilton Spectator'', a Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, ...

.
Article on recent work by Francis Johnson & Partners
from Country Life.
Hull History Centre Francis Johnson Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Francis 20th-century English architects 1911 births 1995 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People from Bridlington Architects from Yorkshire People educated at Bridlington School