William L. Johnston was a carpenter-architect who taught architectural drawing at the Carpenters" Company of Philadelphia, and won a number of important Philadelphia commissions.
Education
In the design of this building, the architect, the late Mr. JOHNSTON, has evidently studied utility more than display. Yet the genius of the true artist manifests itself throughout, and few of our public buildings of this order, surpass it as an imposing piece of architecture.".
Career
He died of tuberculosis at the age of 38 after a trip abroad for his health. Philosophy-Ellena (George Washington Carpenter mansion), Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1844, demolished 1898). This mammoth Greek-Revival mansion on a 500-acre (20 km2) estate was the largest private residence in Philadelphia.
Mercantile Library (Burroughs Building), 125 South. 5th Saint, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1844-1845, demolished 1925).
Bank of Commerce, 211 Chestnut Saint, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (c 1846, demolished). "BANK OF COMMERCE, formerly the Moyamensing Bank.
Incorporated in the year 1832, with a capital of $250,000. The present banking-house of this institution, located in Chestnut west of Second Street, is constructed of brown stone.
The congregation moved to West Philadelphia in 1939, and the building is now a private residence.
Entrance Gate to Hood Cemetery (aka Lower Burying Ground), 4901 Germantown Avenue., Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1849). Jayne Building, 242-44 Chestnut Saint, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1849-1850, demolished 1957) (completed by Thomas U Walter). Charles East. Peterson argued that Johnston"s 129-foot (39 m)-tall building was a proto-skyscraper, and influenced the Chicago architect Louis Sullivan, who worked directly across the street from it in the office of Frank Furness.
Peterson"s efforts to save the building were unsuccessful.
lieutenant was demolished in 1957 in the creation of Independence National Historical Park. In addition to his, Johnston was commissioned in 1847 to design the Orange Grove Plantation House in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana.
Intended for Thomas A. Morgan, a descendant of the prominent Morgan family of Pennsylvania, the house was the last Gothic revival mansion built in antebellum Louisiana. lieutenant featured Tudor elements and meticulous hand-crafted details that were built in Philadelphia and transported to Louisiana to be assembled there.