Johnston, William J.

SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building, Civil engineering

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fl. mid-nineteenth century Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

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American architect who was one of the pioneers during the mid-nineteenth century of metal framing for commercial building structures.

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The Jayne Building, erected in Philadelphia in 1849–50, was begun by Johnston and completed by Thomas U. Walter, architect of the iron dome of the Washington Capitol. The seven-storey Philadelphia Building was iron-framed and clad in granite, and Johnston introduced a vertical type of architectural design reflecting the metal structural form beneath—a format later taken up for taller, skyscraper buildings by Louis Sullivan —but here the upper storey was eclectic, using Gothic tracery. The building was later demolished.

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Further Reading

H.Russell-Hitchcock, 1958, Architecture: 19th and 20th Centuries, London: Penguin, Pelican History of Art series, 333.

N.Pevsner, 1975, Pioneers of Modern Design, London: Penguin, 24–25.

Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain: Vol. 9, Ante-Bellum Skyscraper, and Vol. 10, The Jayne Building Again.

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