Johnston Family Owned and Patronized Sites
Johnston Family Home
As he begins to amass his fortune, John Johnston gets married and rents his first house at 16 Greenwich Street.
New York University
As his wealth grows, Johnston donates funds to establish New York University in 1831. Its gothic University Building is designed and built close to the Johnston family’s second home at nos. 6 and 7 Washington Square North.
"The Row"
Along with his business partner James Boorman, John Johnston partners with men of business in the city to construct "The Row" at Washington Square North. He purchases nos. 6 and 7, both of which are occupied by Johnston family members into the twentieth century.
James Boorman Johnston Residence
James Boorman Johnston, John’s younger son, purchases a Federal-style style mansion home on West Tenth Street in 1855, several blocks away from 7 Washington Square, "The Row," where he grew up and lived prior to this move.
Johnston Private Stable
On the same block is the Johnston private stable at 50 West Tenth.
John Taylor Johnston Mansion
Central Railroad Company President John Taylor Johnston registers 8 Fifth Avenue as his home for the first time in 1856. There he builds a white marble mansion, situated between his family's home on "The Row" and his brother's home on West Tenth Street.
Tenth Street Studio Building
J. B. Johnston purchases land and builds the Tenth Street Studio Building across the street from his home and stable on Tenth Street.
Lockwood de Forest Residence
Lockwood de Forest, one of the Studio Building's more famous nineteenth-century tenants, builds a residence at 7 East Tenth Street featuring ornate decorative features that showcase his skills in architectural and interior design. This house is built several blocks away from his brother's (Robert Weeks de Forest’s) house on "The Row" and the houses of J. B. and J. T. Johnston, landlords of the Studio Building, who were part of his extended family.
Robert and Emily Weeks de Forest Residence
Emily Johnston and her husband, Robert Weeks de Forest, settle at no. 7 Washington Square North, one of the Johnston Family homes on "The Row" where her father and uncle lived as children and young adults.
Eva Johnston Residence
Eva Johnston Coe, daughter of J. T. Johnston and younger sister of Emily Johnston de Forest, builds a home at 3 East Tenth Street, close to her father's mansion home and Lockwood de Forest's house.
John Herbert Johnston
John Herbert Johnston lives with his wife, Celestine Noel Johnston, at 18 Washington Square North, the building visible just to the right of the Washington Square Arch in the photo.
Fig. 6. Mining @ Tenth Street, “Johnston Family Owned and Patronized Sites.” © Mining @ Tenth Street: Visualizing New York City’s Tenth Street Studio Building, 2022
Return to Panorama article: " From Center to Periphery: The Lifespan of New York City’s Tenth Street Studio Building and the Canon of American Art "
Cite this StoryMaps Data Visualization: Mary Okin with Celie Mitchard, “From Center to Periphery: The Lifespan of New York City’s Tenth Street Studio Building and the Canon of American Art,” fig. 6, "Fig. 6. Johnston Family Owned and Patronized Sites," Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art 8, no. 2 (Fall 2022), https://doi.org/10.24926/24716839.15395 .
Image Credits:
1. "John Johnston Four Children," photograph reproduced in Emily Johnston de Forest, John Johnston, New York Merchant (New York: Privately published, 1909), 125.
2. "The University Building, Washington Square," reproduced in de Forest, John Johnston, 163.
3. "The Row," reproduced in de Forest, John Johnston, 151.
4. Google Street View of 56 West Tenth Street.
5. Google Street View of 50 West Tenth Street.
6.Berenice Abbott (1898–1991), Fifth Avenue, Nos. 4, 6, 8, 1936. Gelatin silver print, 8 x 10 in. Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, New York Public Library, https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/159a9260-9810-013a-6de5-0242ac110002 .
7. “The Studio Building,” Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, April 13, 1867, 54.
8. Google Street View of 3 East Tenth Street.
9. Google Street View of 7 East Tenth Street.
10. "The Row," reproduced in de Forest, John Johnston, 151.
11. Detroit Publishing Co., Washington Square, New York, c. 1900–1920. Glass negative, 5 x 7 in.. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, https://www.loc.gov/item/2016797118 .