Reginald D. Johnson Collection: Finding
Aid
Finding aid prepared by Erin Chase.
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Architecture Collections
The Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
© 2014
The Huntington Library. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Reginald D. Johnson Collection
Dates (inclusive): approximately 1906 - approximately 1947
Collection Number: archJohnson
Creator:
Johnson, Reginald D.
Extent:
3 flat boxes, 1 tube box, 2 oversize folders
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Architecture Collections
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: Reginald D. Johnson (1882-1952) was an architect who worked primarily on residential and commercial projects in Southern California
from about 1910 through the 1940s.
Johnson was best known for the English and Mediterranean style mansions he built for wealthy clients in Pasadena and Santa
Barbara in the 1920s. He later embraced more progressive
and inclusive ideas about housing which included planned communities such as Baldwin Hills Village.
The collection spans the years 1906 to 1947 and consists primarily of plans, photographs and drawings of Johnson's architectural
projects in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, California.
Language: English.
Note:
Finding aid last updated on July 1, 2014.
Access
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services
Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.
Administrative Information
Publication Rights
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and
obtaining permission rests with the researcher.
Preferred Citation
Reginald D. Johnson Collection. The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Provenance
The collection was assembled from various sources:
- The drawing of the S. W. Forsman house was received as the gift of F. G. Forsman, date unknown.
- The drawing of the Episcopal Home for the Aged was received as the gift of Nancy Impastato in 1988.
- The two albums were received as the gift of Frances J. McLucas, Kathleen J. Garrett and Joseph A. Johnson in 1993.
- The photographs and blueprints of the "Penjerrick" residence were received as the gift of Peter and Sally Letchworth in 2011.
Biographical Note
Reginald Davis Johnson was born July 19, 1882, in Westchester, New York. In 1895, his father, the Right Reverend Joseph Horsfall
Johnson, was appointed the first bishop of the Protestant
Episcopal Southern California Diocese. Johnson's first years in California were spent in a mansion on Grand Avenue in Pasadena,
California, before attending Morristown School in Morristown, New Jersey. During his childhood,
the family made trips to Europe, and he later claimed to have studied architecture in Paris (though it is unclear where).
He completed his education first at Williams College and then at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating from there in 1910. Johnson returned to Pasadena shortly thereafter to
embark on his own architecture practice in 1912.
Having gained significant experience apprenticing in the offices of both Hunt & Grey (Myron & Elmer) and Robert Farquhar,
Johnson's practice thrived from the beginning. His clients tended to be people of high social
standing and wealth, and his projects reflected this in both proportion and style. Most of his early work was English, Anglo-Colonial
and Mediterranean in style, with special attention paid to the site and its relationship to
the building. Johnson became one of the leading architects in Los Angeles by 1920 and he received multiple commissions throughout
Pasadena and Santa Barbara during this period. One of the most acclaimed houses he designed in
the Mediterranean style was for John Percival Jefferson, an estate in Montecito called “Mira Flores.” For this, he won a
gold medal in 1920 from the American Institute of Architects as an example of the most outstanding
residential architecture in the nation, the first such recognition for a Southern California architect. He continued to practice
architecture throughout Pasadena, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara during the 1920s, going into
practice briefly in 1922 with two other architects, Gordon B. Kaufmann and Roland E. Coate (Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate).
The firm was responsible for two major church commissions, All Saints' Episcopal Church in Pasadena
and Saint Paul's Episcopal Cathedral in Los Angeles. The firm dissolved by 1924 and each architect went on to form individual
practices.
During the Great Depression in the 1930s, Johnson moved away from designing for the wealthy as he became increasingly interested
in small, affordable housing solutions. He won another award in 1931 for the best small house
built in the United States for the gardener's cottage on the William R. Dickinson property in Hope Ranch. Throughout the
remainder of his career, Johnson focused almost exclusively on government and mass housing, including
the 300-unit Harbor Hills project in San Pedro (1941) and Baldwin Hills Village (1940-1942) in the Baldwin Hills area of Los
Angeles. For the latter project, Johnson collaborated with the firm Wilson, Merrill, and Alexander
and Clarence Stein served as planning consultant. A community of 627 units on 88 acres was formed, and, after its opening
in December 1941, lauded by critics as an outstanding example of a planned community. Johnson died
on October 28, 1952.
Scope and Content
The Reginald D. Johnson Collection spans the years 1906 to 1947 and consists primarily of plans, photographs and drawings
of Johnson's architectural projects in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, California.
The collection includes material that was acquired as
two separate donations between 1988 and 1993: an album of photographs and drawings of the Baldwin Hills Village planned residential
community in the Baldwin Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles; an album of photographs of residential
projects in Pasadena and Santa Barbara, and three drawings for buildings in San Marino, Pasadena, and Alhambra. An additional
donation made in 2011 includes blueprints and photographs of “Penjerrick,” the
residence of Pierre E. Letchworth in Covina, California, built in 1915.
Credited photographers represented in the collection include William M. Clarke, E. M. Pratt, the Padilla Company, and the
Gill Engraving Company.
Related Materials in the Huntington Library
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in the following two series:
- Series I. Project Records
- Series II. Additional Donations
- A. Pierre E. Letchworth residence, “Penjerrick,” Covina, California, circa 1915.
Indexing Terms
Subjects
Architects – California.
Architecture -- California -- Los Angeles.
Architecture -- California -- Pasadena.
Architecture -- California -- Santa Barbara.
Architecture -- Designs and plans.
Planned communities -- California -- Los Angeles -- Designs and plans.
Johnson, Reginald D.
Baldwin Hills (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Covina (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Montecito (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Santa Barbara (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Forms/Genres
Architectural drawings.
Photographs.
Presentation albums.
Tear sheets.
Additional Entries
Clarke, William M., photographer.
Pratt, E. M., photographer.
Gill Engraving Co., photographer.
Padilla Co., photographer.
Series I. Project Records
Box 1, Volume 1
Album of the Village Green Housing Development, Baldwin Hills, approximately 1940s.
Historical Note
The Baldwin Hills Village (initially known as Thousand Gardens) was a planned residential apartment community designed by
Reginald D. Johnson and the architectural
firm of Wilson, Merrill, and Alexander in the late 1930s,
and completed in 1942 in the Baldwin Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.
Scope and Content Note
Bound album compiled by Reginald D. Johnson containing 26 black-and-white photographs, 10 original drawings, and 12 Photostat
copies of apartment plans of the Baldwin Hills Village Green Housing Development residential community.
The album measures 20 1/2 x 18 inches.
Box 1, Volume 2
Album of residential projects in Pasadena and Santa Barbara, approximately 1920s.
Scope and Content Note
Bound album containing black-and-white photographs of residences designed by Reginald D. Johnson in Pasadena, Montecito, and
Santa Barbara, California, including his own Pasadena home.
The album measures
20 1/2 x 18 inches.
Note: Three separated pages from the album depicting the house of Harry J. Bauer are housed in Box 2 (1-3).
(1-7)
House of Harold Chase, Santa Barbara, California. Photographed by E. M. Pratt.
The "Las Terrasas" villa at Hope Ranch was completed in 1925.
(8-9)
Residence of Reginald W. Rives, Montecito, California. Photographed by William M. Clarke.
"Casa del Sueno" was completed in 1916.
(10-13)
Residence of Edward Lowe, Montecito, California. Photographed by William M. Clarke.
"El Elisio" was constructed around 1922.
(14-15)
House of E. M. Gould, Montecito, California. Photographed by William M. Clarke.
Edwin Gould's house was constructed in 1918.
(16-18)
House of J. P. Jefferson, Montecito, California. Photographed by William M. Clarke.
The "Mira Flores" estate was constructed in 1915, 1918.
(19-26)
House of Reginald D. Johnson, Pasadena, California. Photographed by Padilla Co.
The Lombardy Road house was constructed around 1927.
(27)
Small sketch of unidentified modern house.
Box 2, Items (1-3)
House of Mr. Harry J. Bauer, Pasadena, California, approximately 1928. Photographed by William M. Clarke.
The Hillcrest Avenue house was constructed in 1927-8.
Box 4, Roll 1
Blueprint for Bay Tree Boxes [possibly for Franklin Baldwin residence, San Marino].
Box 4, Broadside folder 1
South elevation for S. W. Forsman, Pasadena, March 30, 1928.
Box 4, Broadside folder 2
Proposed Development, The Episcopal Home for the Aged, Alhambra, approximately 1930.
Series II. Additional Donations
A. Pierre E. Letchworth residence, “Penjerrick,” Covina, California, approximately 1914-1915
Historical Note
Reginald D. Johnson built the residence, known as "Penjerrick Ranch," for Pierre E. Letchworth and his family in 1913 on the
Letchworths' ten-acre orange grove in Covina, California.
Box 3
Photographs and publications
Box 3, Folder 1 (1-25)
Exterior photographs
Scope and Content Note
Black-and-white snapshots of various sizes showing the exterior of the residence and the surrounding orange orchards. Some
photographs credited to Gill Engraving Co.
Box 3, Folder 2 (1-7)
Interior photographs
Scope and Content Note
Black-and-white photographs of various sizes showing the interior of the residence. Some photographs credited to C. W. Tucker.
Box 3, Folder 3 (ephemera)
Related publications, 1914-1915
Scope and Content Note
Three publications with articles on the Letchworth residence consists of an article tear sheet from the August 25, 1915, issue
of
American Architect; the November 21, 1914,
issue of
Town & Country; and article from the December 1914 issue of
Country Life in America.
Box 4, Roll 2
Blueprints, approximately 1915
