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Overview

This residence housed the Right Reverend Joseph Horsfall Johnson (1847-1928), who served as the first Episcopalian Bishop of Los Angeles from 1896 until his death in 1928, and his wife, Isabel Greene Davis (1851-1940). Joseph and Isabel had one child, Reginald (1888-1952), who would go on to become one of the city's great revivalist architects and, later in life, a champion of public housing. The Johnsons lived in this house from at least 1902 until the end of his life; his widow left 415 South Grand after his death, moving into a new dwelling designed by her son at1590 Lombardy Road in 1929-1930.

Building History

Joseph Horsfall Johnson traveled from Detroit, MI, to become Los Angeles's first Episcopalian Bishop in 1896. Johnson graduated from the General Theological Seminary in New York, NY, in 1873. He became Rector of Trinity Church, Highland, NY, (1873-1879), Trinity Church, Bristol, RI, (1878-1881), Saint Peter's Church, Westchester, NY, (1881-1886), and Christ Church, Detroit, MI (1886-1896). He received his Doctor of Divinity degree in 1894, from the Theological Seminary in Nashotah, WI. Between his stints in Bristol, RI, and West Chester, NY, he married Isabel Green Davis on 06/14/1881 in Worcester, MA.

It is not known if Joseph and Isabel Johnson were the earliest residents of this house at 415 South Grand Avenue, but they resided here by 1900, at least, according to the 1900 US Census. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation, Year: 1900; Census Place: Pasadena Precinct 5, Los Angeles, California; Roll: 91; Page: 10A; Enumeration District: 0117; FHL microfilm: 1240091, accessed 06/30/2016.)

PCAD id: 20283