Clarence H Johnston, Sr

Biography

Johnston's parents, Alexander Johnston and Louise Johnston (née Buckhout), moved to Waseca County, Minnesota in 1856, along with a few other families. They established a settlement named Okaman on the shores of Lake Elysian. Their first son, John Buckhout Johnston, was born in 1858, and became a prominent manufacturer and businessman. Clarence Johnston was born August 26, 1859. The family then moved to Wilton, which was then the county seat of Waseca County, and Alexander Johnston took over the publication of a local newspaper. In 1861 the family moved to Faribault. Their third child, Grace, was born March 2, 1862. They moved again, to Saint Paul, where their fourth child, Charles Albert, was born in 1864. After moving briefly to Hastings, the family returned to Saint Paul permanently in 1868. Alexander Johnston was then a reporter for the Saint Paul Daily Pioneer, now the Pioneer Press.

Johnston started attending Saint Paul High School in 1872 and took on a job as a clerk at the law firm of Rogers and Rogers. His mother died May 8, 1874, at the age of forty-two. That same year, Johnston quit his clerical job and began work at the firm of Abraham M. Radcliffe as a draughtsman. Radcliffe's firm was a local training ground for aspiring architects at the time. In September 1876, Cass Gilbert joined Radcliffe's firm as an apprentice, and Gilbert and Johnston soon became close friends. In the fall of 1878, Gilbert and Johnston enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). There they met James Knox Taylor, who had also grown up in Saint Paul and joined MIT as an architectural student a year earlier. Gilbert and Johnston, along with Taylor, had opted to take the special two-year course in architecture, rather than the full four-year degree-granting program. However, Johnston was forced to drop out after one term due to financial reasons. He moved back to Saint Paul and worked briefly at the firm of Edward Bassford, where the firm was more conscious of costs to the client in the design and construction process. This influenced Johnston to view economic constraints as a challenge to be solved by inventiveness, instead of being a restriction on his artistry. During these years, Gilbert and Johnston kept in touch through a large number of letters.

In January 1880, Cass Gilbert departed to Europe for an architectural tour. Gilbert wrote back to Johnston urging him to make a similar trip, but Johnston was preoccupied with a job offer from Herter Brothers in New York. One of the projects on which he worked during his tenure at Herter Brothers was J.P. Morgan's brownstone house on Madison Avenue at 36th Street. In the summer of 1880, Cass Gilbert returned from Europe and settled in New York, working for the firm of McKim, Mead & White. Gilbert and Johnston, along with their MIT classmate Francis Bacon, shared rooms at 40 Irving Place. That same year Johnston, Gilbert, Bacon, Taylor, and William A. Bates founded the Sketch Club, which later became the Architectural League. Accounts vary on which members were actually the founders of the club.

In February 1883, Johnston finally traveled to Europe and Asia Minor. In 1886 Johnston established his own practice in Saint Paul and gained a reputation as a respected domestic architect. By this point in his career, he was designing countless homes and churches in Saint Paul, especially in the vicinity of Summit Avenue and Saint Paul's Hill District. In 1886 Johnston formed a partnership with William H. Willcox which lasted through 1890. In 1895 Johnston entered the competition to design the new Minnesota State Capitol, but lost to Cass Gilbert.

On May 22, 1901, the Minnesota State Board of Control, a body responsible for the construction and operation of all state-funded institutions, appointed Johnston as State Architect. As State Architect, Johnston prepared plans for the Minnesota State Prison, buildings at various state college campuses, hospitals, sanitariums, and other public structures. Since state business was at the whims of the Minnesota Legislature and was not always consistent, he continued his private practice during this time. Retaining private commissions allowed him to operate his office continuously and receive a higher rate of return. Johnston continued as State Architect until 1931, when the State Division of Construction was dissolved.

Johnston was also architect for the Board of Regents of the University of Minnesota and drew plans for all buildings on the new campus and some on the older portion. He was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and, for a time, was the president and director of the AIA Minnesota chapter.

Johnston never officially retired, but backed off on his practice after the State Architect position was dissolved in 1931. He died December 29, 1936.

Johnston's son Clarence H. Johnston Jr. was also an architect, and took charge of the Johnston firm after his father's death. He designed Coffman Memorial Union and other buildings within the University of Minnesota system and had a hand in the design of the Tri-State Telephone Company (now CenturyLink) building at 70 West 4th Street.

Personal life

Johnston married Mary "May" Thurston October 1, 1885. The couple had a total of five children.

State Architect Projects

The Minnesota State Board of Control was initially in charge of nine institutions. Johnston designed buildings at these following institutions:

While Johnston was State Architect, the Minnesota State Board of Control added the following institutions to its governance:

For all the institutions above, Clarence H. Johnston Sr. either designed new buildings, designed improvements to existing buildings, or both.

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Campus

University of Minnesota, Saint Paul Campus

Other buildings