This collection is available for use by appointment in the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For further information, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
The collection includes original and reprographic architectural drawings, photographs, negatives, professional papers, publications, reference files, and a scale model. Covering Johansen's body of work extensively, the documents in this collection can be divided into two major groups: firstly, documentation of architectural projects by his office, and, secondly, manuscripts and published essays written by him.
Series I: Project Records, 1939-2007
This series compiles architectural projects designed by John Johansen Associates and Johansen & Bhavnani. It includes all of his major works, such as the Mummers Theater, the Goddard Library, the L. Frances Smith Elementary School, the Mechanic Theater, the Staten Island Community College, Island House apartments in Roosevelt Island, and the United States Embassy in Dublin. The series also covers many residential projects and conceptual works designed by Johansen across time. The types of documents in this series are primarily original and reprographic drawings, photographs, transparencies, negatives, and clippings. The folders are ordered alphabetically.
Series II: Professional Papers, 1955-2001
This series primarily consists of Johansen's essays--drafts and published versions, for magazines and talks--as well as manuscripts for books, including for his monograph that was later published as A Life in the Continuum of Modern Architecture (1995). This series also includes various paper records, including Johansen's C.V., letters from John F. Kennedy and Marshall McLuhan, his sketchbook, and certificates of awards from different institutions.
Series III: Office Records, 1952-1995
This series contains various types of office-related documents. It includes a collection of book excerpts and magazines that published Johansen's projects, press kits, clippings, project descriptions, and exhibition panels.
This collection is available for use by appointment in the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. For further information, please email avery-drawings@library.columbia.edu.
John M. Johansen architectural drawings and papers, Dept. of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library.
Source of acquisition--Gifts from John MacLane Johansen. Accession number--1998.008, 1998.011, 2001.010, 2009.010.
Columbia University Libraries, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library
This collection was re-processed by Robin Hartanto Honggare (Graduate Intern) in 2018-2019 under the supervision of Shelley Hayreh, Avery Archivist.
Born in New York City in 1916, Johnansen received a master's degree in architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1942, where he studied under Walter Gropius. He worked under Marcel Breuer and for the National Housing Agency in Washington, D.C., before joining the New York office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Johansen opened his own private office in New Canaan, Connecticut, in 1948, and became known as one of the Harvard Five. In 1965, he formed a partnership with Ashok Bhavnani, and John Johansen Associates was later renamed as Johansen & Bhavnani. His major projects included the Oklahoma (Mummers) Theater in Oklahoma City, Okla.; the Goddard Library at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.; the L. Frances Smith Elementary School in Columbus, Indiana; Clowes Memorial Hall at Butler University in Indianapolis, Ind.; the Charles Center Theater Building (Mechanic Theater) in Baltimore, Md.; Staten Island Community College in Staten Island, N.Y.; the United States Embassy in Dublin, Ireland, and the Island House and Rivercross apartments on Roosevelt Island, which he completed with Bhavnani. Johansen also designed numerous private residences in Connecticut and New York state, as well as a series of conceptual projects, including Leapfrog City, "Bubble Cluster", Mag-Lev Theater, and "Moon Module" house. John M. Johansen died in 2012.
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
All links open new windows.