not to yield — undwel

Reginald Johnson practiced architecture in Southern California and beyond for roughly forty years. His career spanned the most transformative era yet in American history, beginning before the First World War and winding down just before the boom time expansion of the 1950’s. His collaborators included Gordon Kaufmann, A. E. Hanson, Clarence Stein, and the Olmsted brothers. His work influenced architects of all imaginable stripes and trajectories, from Myron Hunt to Richard Neutra.

Johnson thrived as an architect in every available scale, market, and context. His greatest contributions were, however, more to the places that he helped make, architectural and urban, than to his own aggrandizement. His work is exemplary for professionals and patrons alike. His achievements tell more of his time and place, and the people who made them possible, than of himself.

In transformative and turbulent times, Reginald Johnson offered a wealth of work that quietly stands ready for the critic’s laurel while offering daily inspiration to what is arguably the broadest office in Southern California. This is democratic architecture.

Here is a celebration of some of Reginald Johnson’s most important California projects:

United States Post Office, Santa Barbara

The following are some of Reginald Johnson's most significant works and collaborations, with attribution where available:

Reginald Davis Johnson, Architect: Projects and Collaborations

H. Page Warden House, Pasadena, CA, 1910
Walter M. Rose House, Pasadena, CA, 1911
Reginald D. Johnson House, Pasadena, CA, 1911
John McWilliams Jr. House, Pasadena, CA, 1912
Ramsey House, Pasadena, CA, 1913
W.F. West House, South Pasadena, CA, 1913
Pierre E. Letchworth House, Covina, CA, 1913
Mrs. Henry H. Lissner House, Los Angeles, CA, 1913
James Slauson House, Azusa, CA, 1913
East Colorado Street Theater, Pasadena, CA, 1914
St. Saviour's Chapel, Harvard Westlake, Los Angeles, CA, 1914
T.L. Duque House, Los Angeles, CA, 1914
Frederick Sherman House, Coronado, CA, 1915
Reginald D. Johnson House #2, Pasadena, CA, 1915
R.W. Rives House (Casa del Sueno), Montecito, CA, 1916
Annandale Golf Club, Pasadena, CA, 1917
Tod Ford House, Pasadena, CA, 1917
E.C. Thiers House, Pasadena, CA, 1918
Edwin Gould Hacienda, Montecito, CA, 1918
John Percival Jefferson Estate (Miraflores), Montecito, CA, 1918, AIA Gold Medal - First Awarded in Southern CA
Landreth House (Oak Knoll), Pasadena, CA, c. 1918
D.F. Paxton House, Pasadena, CA, 1919, AIA Southern CA Honor Award
Gavit House (Lotusland), Montecito, CA, 1919
Max Fleischmann House, Summerland, CA, 1920
Wigmore House, Pasadena, CA, 1920
St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral Pershing Square Project, Los Angeles, CA, 1920
St. John's Church Competition Project, Los Angeles, CA, 1921
Harvard School Dining Hall, Los Angeles, CA, 1921
Edward Lowe House (El Eliseo), Montecito, CA, 1923
All Saint's Episcopal Church, Pasadena, CA, 1923
Santa Barbara City Hall Project, Santa Barbara, CA, 1923
Hale Solar Laboratory, San Marino, CA, 1924
Griffith House (Oak Knoll), Pasadena, CA, 1924
St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral, Los Angeles, CA, 1924, Demolished 1979
San Marcos in the Desert Housing Project, Miami, AZ, 1924
Pasadena Civic Center Competition Project, Pasadena, CA, 1924
Curtis Cate House, Carpinteria, CA, 1925
Woodward House, Birmingham, AL, 1925
La Valencia Hotel, La Jolla, CA, 1925
Flitridge Riding Club, La Canada Flintridge, CA, 1925
Palos Verdes Ranch House, Palos Verdes, CA, c. 1925
Chapel of St. Simon & St. Jude, Alhambra, CA, 1926
Good Samaritan Hospital, Los Angeles, CA, 1926
Harold S. Chase House (Las Terrasas), Hope Ranch, CA, 1927, AIA Southern CA Honor Award
Biltmore Hotel Montecito, CA, 1927, Silver Medal Architectural League of NY
Wyant D. Vanderpool House, Fishers Island, NY, 1928
Frederick P. Warren House, Evanston, IL, 1928
Harry J. Bauer House, Pasadena, CA, 1928
Santa Barbara (Cate) School for Boys, Carpinteria, CA, 1929
Robert J. Baldwin House, Montecito, CA, 1929, Westmont College Admin Building
William R. Dickinson House, Hope Ranch, CA, 1929
Sydney R. Francis House, Pasadena, CA, 1929
La Pumada, House, Montecito, CA, c. 1929
Santa Barbara Riding & Hunt Club, Hope Ranch, CA, 1930
Dickinson House Gardener's Cottage, Hope Ranch, CA, 1930, Presidential Medal - Best Small U.S. House
UCLA Chancellor's Residence, Westwood, CA, 1931
Lester Baldwin House, Pasadena, CA, 1931
Clayton Demotte House, Santa Barbara, CA, 1931
C.H. Jackson House, Montecito, CA, 1931
St. Alban's Chapel, Westwood, CA, 1931, Memorial to his Father
Kimbell/Magnus House, Montecito, CA, 1933
Seely W. Mudd House, San Marino, CA, 1934
Mrs. William Andrews Clark Estate, Santa Barbara, CA, 1936
United States Post Office, Santa Barbara, CA, 1937
Rancho San Pedro Public Housing, San Pedro, CA, 1939
Harbor Hills Housing Project Lomita/San Pedro, CA, 1941
Baldwin Hills Village Housing Project Los Angeles, CA, 1942, AIA 25 Year Award
Reginald Johnson House #3 Pasadena, CA, 1947
Los Angeles Opera House Project, Los Angeles, CA, 1948
Malcolm McNaughton House, La Canada Flintridge, CA, Undated
J. L. Severance Estate, Pasadena, CA, Undated
Ben R. Meyer House, Beverly Hills, CA, Undated

Selected Available Attributions

1. “The Better Homes Manual by Blanche Halbert.” Better Homes in America, Inc. 1931. The University of Chicago Home Economics Series. Lydia J Roberts, Ed. chestofbooks.com. StasoSphere, 2007-2009. (06 May 2012, http://chestofbooks.com/architecture/Better-Homes/index.html)

2. Clark, Alson. “Reginald D. Johnson: Regionalism and Recognition”. Johnson Kaufmann Coate, Partners in the California Style. Belloli, Jay, Alson Clark, Jan Furey Muntz, Stefanos Polyzoides. Scripps College. Capra Press, 1992.

3. Blessed Buildings, “The Little Church at the Base of Pound Hill.” Paradise Leased. Steve Vaught, 2010-12. (06 May 2012, http://paradiseleased.wordpress.com/2012/05/06/blessed-buildings-the-little-church-at-the-base-of-pound-cake-hill/)

4. Gates, Thomas P. “THE PALOS VERDES RANCH PROJECT: Olmsted Brothers' Design Development For A Picturesque Los Angeles Suburban Community Of The 1920s.” Architronic, Kent State University Libraries and Media Services. Thomas P. Gates. 1997. (06 May 2012, http://corbu2.caed.kent.edu/architronic/v6n1/v6n1.03a.html)

5. Newcomb, Rexford. “Mediterranean Domestic Architecture in the United States.” Acanthus Press. New York, 1999.

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