H T Johns & Son

Henry and Bernard Johns were well known Wellington architects who worked briefly together as father and son.

Henry Johns was born in Wellington and trained as a joiner. He moved to Wanganui and worked as a builder / architect from c.1895. He married Alice Sara Blick in 1896 and the family grew to include three sons and a daughter. In 1905 they returned to Wellington where Henry joined architect John Maisey in practice as Maisey & Johns. The practice was prolific and, in a three year period, designed over 40 buildings. When Maisey retired in 1908, Johns established his own practice.

Alice and Henry’s son Bernard was born in Wanganui, but moved to Wellington with the family as a child. He worked as a draughtsman for his father and for the offices of W. M. Page, Watson, Gooder & Lee, and Llewellyn Williams in Wellington. His education was completed in England where he worked for the practices of Slater & Moberly and Joseph Emberton. Bernard Johns returned to New Zealand in 1928, and after the death of his father, established the posthumous practice of HT Johns & Son.

During the 1930s Bernard designed a large number of houses, generally in an original English domestic revival style showing the influence of the Arts & Crafts movement and the work of C.F.A. Voysey. Several are in the neo-Georgian manner. Bob Meldrum & Frank Whitwell were in partnership with Johns after the war, and Johns retired from the practice when Whitwell died about 1960. There were many post-war houses built too, and his biggest commission, the office building for the New Zealand Wool Board, was completed in 1955.

Johns is best known today for his houses, always well designed with attention to detail and quality. His skill as an architect rests not just with his houses, however, as the Wool Board building is an accomplished modern design – one of the landmark buildings of the 1950’s in Wellington.

 

Sources:

Bernard W Johns, Architect, obituary “NZ Architect” No 1 1983.

Mew, Geoff & Adrian Humphris. “Raupo to Deco: Wellington Styles and Architects 1840 – 1940” (Wellington: Steel Roberts Aotearoa, 2014) 

WCC Heritage Inventory 2001