G. Adolph Johnson Explained

Gustaf Adolph Johnson
Birth Date:	9 September 1889
Birth Place:	Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.
Death Place:	Westborough, Massachusetts

G. Adolph Johnson (1889-1985) was an American architect and politician from Worcester, Massachusetts.

Life and career

Gustaf Adolph Johnson was born September 9, 1889, in Worcester to John A. Johnson and Christina (Fors) Johnson, both of whom had immigrated from Sweden in 1884. He attended public schools, graduating from the English High School in 1907. He then went to study in the Washington-based atelier of Glenn Brown, an MIT-trained architect. When he returned to Worcester, he took a job with the architect George H. Clemence. After a brief period, he accepted a position in the Worcester Boys' Trade High School, where he was an instructor in drawing. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Johnson served in the governmental service department for the rehabilitation of disabled soldiers. This eventually took him to Chicago, where he attended classes in architecture at the Armour Institute. In Chicago he worked for Patton, Holmes & Flinn, where he worked on buildings for Carleton College in Minnesota.^[1]

When Johnson returned to Worcester in 1922, he opened his own office and began to practice as an architect.^[1] For forty years he was associated with fellow architect Jasper Rustigian. Though for the most part they shared only their resources, not their projects, for part of the 1940s and 1950s they were in a formal partnership, the firm then being known as Johnson & Rustigian, and briefly as Johnson, Rustigian & Kunz with a third partner. Johnson continued to practice into the 1960s.

Johnson was a member of the Worcester chapter of the American Institute of Architects, but was not a member of the national organization.^[1]

Political and personal life

Johnson was a Republican. He was a member of the Worcester City Council from 1924 to 1926, and a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 17th Worcester district in 1927–28.^{[1] [2]} In addition to his professional affiliations, Johnson was also a member of a number of social and fraternal organizations. He was a director of the Skandia Bank and Trust Company of Worcester and a trustee of Fairlawn Hospital.^[1]

Johnson married in 1914, to Signe C. Thorn of Worcester. They had no children.^[1] He died June 27, 1985, in Westborough.^[3]

Architectural works

• Calvary Lutheran Church, Salisbury and Wachusett Sts, Worcester, Massachusetts (1925, demolished 1948)^[1]
• North Worcester Aid Society addition, 58 Holden St, Worcester, Massachusetts (1928, NRHP 1980)^[4]
• Worcester Public Library Billings Branch (former), 15 Hamilton St, Worcester, Massachusetts (1929)^[5]
• Providence Street Junior High School (former), 211 Providence St, Worcester, Massachusetts (1930–31)^[6]
• Alumni Gymnasium and Atwood Hall, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts (1937–38)^[7]
• First Unitarian Church, 90 Main St, Worcester, Massachusetts (1939)^[8]
• Worcester Art Museum addition, 55 Salisbury St, Worcester, Massachusetts (1939–40)^[9]
• Immanuel Lutheran Church, 346 Shrewsbury St, Holden, Massachusetts (1948–49)
• Phillipston Memorial School, 20 The Common, Phillipston, Massachusetts (1948)^[10]
• Chandler Street Junior High School, 525 Chandler St, Worcester, Massachusetts (1950)^[11]
• Burncoat Junior High School, 135 Burncoat St, Worcester, Massachusetts (1951)^[11]
• Fairlawn Hospital addition, 189 May St, Worcester, Massachusetts (1951)^[12]
• All Saints Episcopal Church Education Building, 10 Irving St, Worcester, Massachusetts (1954)^[13]
• St. Francis Episcopal Church, 70 Highland St, Holden, Massachusetts (1955)^[14]
• Bullock and Wright Residence Halls, Jefferson Hall and Jeppson Laboratory, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts (1958–59)^[7]
• West Building, Memorial Hospital, Worcester, Massachusetts (1961–62)^[15]
• Paul R. Swan Library, Becker College, Leicester, Massachusetts (1963)^[16]

Notes and References

1. John Nelson, "G. Adolph Johnson," in Worcester County: A Narrative History, vol. 3 (New York: American Historical Society, 1934): 82-83.
2. Public Officials of Massachusetts, 1927-28 (Boston: Boston Publicity Review Service, 1927)
3. "Gustaf Adolph Johnson", https://www.findagrave.com, Find a Grave, May 22, 2020.
4. https://mhc-macris.net/#!/details?mhcid=WOR.125 Historic Building Detail: WOR.125
5. https://mhc-macris.net/#!/details?mhcid=WOR.1261 Historic Building Detail: WOR.1261
6. https://mhc-macris.net/#!/details?mhcid=WOR.2294 Historic Building Detail: WOR.2294
7. The Life of a Campus: 9 Essays on Clark Buildings Past and Present, ed. Kristina Wilson (Worcester: Clark University, 2012): 15-22.
8. https://mhc-macris.net/#!/details?mhcid=WOR.704 Historic Building Detail: WOR.704
9. "Worcester: Plans & Additions" in Art News 37, no. 32 (May 6, 1939): 18.
10. https://mhc-macris.net/#!/details?mhcid=PHL.9 Historic Building Detail: PHL.9
11. Sigfried Giedion, Walter Gropius: Work and Teamwork (New York: Reinhold, 1954)
12. https://mhc-macris.net/#!/details?mhcid=WOR.738 Historic Building Detail: WOR.738
13. https://mhc-macris.net/#!/details?mhcid=WOR.1008 Historic Building Detail: WOR.1008
14. https://mhc-macris.net/#!/details?mhcid=HOL.47 Historic Building Detail: HOL.47
15. Engineering News-Record 116, no. 21 (May 25, 1961): 62.
16. https://mhc-macris.net/#!/details?mhcid=LEI.108 Historic Building Detail: LEI.108