John Johnson was a distinguished Victorian architect about whom tantalisingly little is known. Some sources confuse him with an earlier John Johnson (1732-1814), a fine Georgian architect with a liking for Coade stone (a precursor of Portland cement for façades etc.), who was at one point County Surveyor of Chelmsford. It seems likely that the two were related, especially as their choice of materials and styles seems similar and is quite distinctive.
In historical records, Johnson's name crops up most often in connection with Sir John Kelk (1816-1886), the civil engineer and building and public works contractor who built, amongst others, the Victoria Station and Pimlico Railway, the early buildings of what was to be the Victoria and Albert Museum, and, to much acclaim, the Albert Memorial. For example, Johnson worked with Kelk on the old Army and Navy Club on St James's Square. Kelk also employed Johnson to design his London home at 3 Grosvenor Square, and the church at Tidworth on his Hampshire estate. After the 1862 Kensington Exhibition, again working with Kelk, Johnson refaced the parts of the building which were to be preserved, with a recasting "in the François Premier style" (that is, with both Gothic and Italian elements; Hobhouse, The Crystal Palace... 139). He then reused some of the other materials in the construction of Alexandra Palace, also for Kelk, who built it in partnership with the contractors Charles and Thomas Lucas. Kelk put up a great deal of his own money for this project.
The concept of the Palace had come from Owen Jones, and Johnson used some of Jones's original ideas — the transept and nave arrangement, for instance — in his own design. Jones and Johnson both had addresses at the Adelphi, so there may well have been contact between them. Johnson was clearly influenced by Jones's flair for colour and pattern, as well as by his keen interest in Egyptian and Islamic design — witness the sphinxes in the west wing's Palm Court. At any rate, here Johnson had the opportunity to develop these decorative elements in his own way and on a vast scale. He even had a chance to improve on them when rebuilding after the first fire of 1873. Quite deservedly, on the strength of his work on Alexandra Palace, Johnson was made a Fellow of the Florentine Academy in 1877.
Despite the ravages of a second major fire in 1980, "Ally Pally" is still a remarkable sight. The frontispiece, which has now been restored, gives an idea of how splendid it must have been when first opened. In contrast to this grandeur, the Palm Court is wonderfully bright and airy. Planned as an aviary and conservatory, and undamaged by the later blaze, it continues to offer visitors a welcome sense of release from city life. The whole enterprise, including the immediate rebuilding after the original disaster, bears lasting witness to the great industry and vitality of the overlapping specialities of architecture, civil engineering, building and decorative arts in Victorian London.
John Johnson, who was for some years District Surveyor of the London borough of East Hackney, was very much a part of this élite network. Paradoxically, though, he seems to be better remembered for smaller projects like the old town hall in Staines, Middlesex (now Surrey), or what is now the Anstice Club in Madeley, Shropshire. In such places, his eye for detail, contrast and symmetry was apt to produce the single most eye-catching building in town.
Sources
"The Anstice Working Men's Institute". Viewed 28 December 2007.
"The Churches of S. Tidworth." (See the entry for St Mary's.) Viewed 28 December 2007.
Elrington, C.R., ed. "Paddington: Bayswater." A History of the County of Middlesex. Vol. 9 (1989). Viewed 22 December 2007.
Hobhouse, Hermione. The Crystal Palace and the Great Exhibition. London and New York: Athlone Press, 2002.
"John Johnson — Architect of St Matthews." Viewed 27 December 2007.
............... "Kelk, Sir John, first baronet (1816-1886)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Viewed 20 December 2007.
"Old Hall" (Queen's College, Cambridge). Viewed 28 December 2007.
Sheppard, F. H. W., ed. "The Haymarket Opera House," Survey of London, Vols. 29 and 30 (1960). St James Westminster, Part 1. Viewed 28 December 2007.
................. "No. 18 St James's Square, heightened and refaced," Survey of London, Vols. 29 and 30 (1960). St James Westminster, Part 1. Viewed 28 December 2007.
Last modified 1 January 2008