Reginald Davis Johnson (1882 - 1952) was an American architect. His practice, based in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

, focused on the Los Angeles area and southern California in general, with a mixture of residential and commercial work. Johnson's later work was influenced by his progressive ideas on housing policy. Charles Francis Paxton house, 1160 South Orange Grove Boulevard, Pasadena, California

Charles Francis Paxton house, 1160 South Orange Grove Boulevard, Pasadena, California

Johnson was born in New York state on July 19, 1882, the son of

Joseph Horsfall Johnson Joseph Horsfall Johnson (7 June 1847- 16 May 1928) was the first Bishop of Los Angeles in The Episcopal Church. He founded The Bishop's School in La Jolla, California and served on the Pomona College board of trustees. The Bishop Johnson College ...

, who would become the first Episcopal bishop of Los Angeles from 1896 to 1928. Johnson studied architecture in Paris and then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating in 1910 and returned to Pasadena. His father would consecrate St. Paul's Cathedral in Los Angeles in 1924, designed by Reginald. Johnson made a good living in the 1920s designing houses in Montecito and Pasadena. Johnson made his name by designing houses for the rich, but also designed more affordable housing, a cause that assumed greater importance to him as the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

wore on. In 1931 Johnson won an award for best design for a small house, receiving the award from Herbert Hoover. Johnson designed Rancho San Pedro for Los Angeles as a public housing project in 1939. Through the 1930s Johnson worked on the design of Baldwin Hills Village in Los Angeles, which was designed as an up-to-date community of inexpensive housing. Johnson collaborated with

Clarence Stein Clarence Samuel Stein (June 19, 1882 – February 7, 1975) was an American urban planner, architect, and writer, a major proponent of the garden city movement in the United States. Biography Stein was born in Rochester, New York into an upwardly ...

, the planner of

Radburn, New Jersey Radburn is an unincorporated community located within Fair Lawn in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. Radburn was founded in 1929 as "a town for the motor age".

, and the development was named by the American Institute of Architects as one of the 100 most important architectural achievements in American history.

Works

*Santa Barbara Country Club ("Miraflores") (1909, rebuilt 1913, altered 1915 by Reginald D. Johnson) now the Music Academy of the West *Charles and Stephanie (daughter of

William H. Workman William Henry Workman (January 1, 1839 – February 21, 1918) was an American politician, banker and businessman. He served two terms as the 18th Mayor of Los Angeles, California. Early life Workman was born in New Franklin, Missouri, the son o ...

) Masson Residence, Boyle Heights (1913). Relocated across the street in 1943. * Saint Saviour's Chapel (Harvard-Westlake School) (1914) *Charles Francis Paxton house, 1160 South Orange Grove Boulevard, Pasadena (1919), relocated to South Pasadena *Tanglewood ( Lotusland), Santa Barbara (1919), remodeled by George Washington Smith *Woodward House, Birmingham,AL (1922), built for Birmingham businessman Allen Harvey Woodward and his wife, Annie Jemison Woodward *All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena (1923) *St. Paul's Cathedral, Los Angeles (1924), demolished 1979 * Hale Solar Laboratory and Solar Observatory, Pasadena (1924) (NHL) *Santa Barbara Biltmore Hotel (1927) * Cate School (1928–29) *Ranch San Carlos, the estate belonging to the Jackson family in Montecito, California (1929) * Baldwin Hills Village (1932) *Bellosguardo, the summer home of Huguette Clark and her mother, Anna LaChapelle Clark, in Santa Barbara (1933) *Santa Barbara Post Office (1937) * Good Samaritan Hospital, Los Angeles, replaced 1976 * Flintridge Riding Club * La Valencia Hotel, La Jolla, California

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Reginald Davis 1882 births 1952 deaths Architects from Pasadena, California