Architecture and Drawing: the Newport Career of John Dixon Johnston

Although little known today, even among architectural historians, John Dixon Johnston (1849-1928) was one of the most prolific architectural professionals working in Newport from 1880 to 1920. This period, spanning the turn of the century was a generation of intense activity among nationally and regionally distinguished architects commissioned to design and build in Newport, architects such as Richard Morris Hunt, McKim, Mead & White, Peabody &Stearns, Bruce Price, Wilson Eyre, Frank Furness, Ogden Codman, and Irving Gill. There were other architects, long-time local residents, who helped create the streetscapes that even today shape Newport’s architectural ambience. The careers of such men as George Champlin Mason, his son George Champlin Jr., Dudley Newton, and Johnston have been slighted by architectural history. Johnston, who balanced a variety of roles from carpenter to builder to mill owner and architect, was involved in nearly two hundred documented buildings; most of which were erected in Newport and Jamestown during his half-century career