Cataloguing grant award - Francis Johnson archive

The University Archives, based at the Hull History Centre, have just secured an award of £32,729 from the National Cataloguing Grants Programme administered by The National Archives. (The award was one of 15 see the list of successful projects)

The archives of the architects Francis Johnson and Partners, contains material relating to over 2000 projects dating from 1954 to 1996. The bulk of this material remains in their original paper files wrapped in an unrelated building plan (see right).

Just some of the files awaiting to be catalogued,
re-packed and boxed ready for public access

Francis Johnson, (1911-1995) was born in Bridlington and studied at the Leeds School of Architecture. After working for a firm in Hull for a few years he began his own practice in 1937, based in Bridlington where he worked for nearly 60 years and where the firm is still based. 

The archive reflects the range of commissions that Francis Johnson & Partners have undertaken including private houses, especially country houses, both new or restoration projects, including;

• Hardwick Hall (for the National Trust); Maister House, Hull; the Orangery at Sledmere House; Burton Agnes Hall; Houghton Hall; Everingham Hall; Sunderlandwick Hall and Merchant Taylors Hall, York
• New churches in East Yorkshire and Scarborough
• Material relating to restoration of churches, church inspections and the conversion of churches into private dwellings
• Other buildings including St Chad’s College (Durham), railway cottages, public houses, an office block in Driffield, dog kennels, a swimming pool and a cricket pavilion
• Individual pieces of furniture for British embassies in Washington, Tokyo and Oslo and a pair of wooden candlesticks designed for HM Queen

Spread of files relating to Burton Agnes Hall (Ref U DFJ/18)

The files include correspondence relating to the design, planning and approval processes; listed building consent; invoices, accounts, bills of quantities, tenders and receipts; there are discussions relating to the use of materials and sketches, drawings and plans of architectural details, eg wrought iron-work, fireplaces, bookcases, chairs, pew-ends and front-doors.

Simon Wilson, Senior Archivist said ...”The funding will allow us to employ an archivist to undertake the cataloguing but we also hope to recruit a small team of volunteers to assist with the project. We would also capture geographic co-ordinates for each property as part of the catalogue entry to allow us to create a map-based access point into the collection.”