John Parkinson was born in the small village of Scorton, in Lancashire County, England in 1861. At the age of sixteen, he was apprenticed for six years to a contractor/builder in nearby Bolton, where he learned the meaning of craftsmanship and gained a strong knowledge of practical construction. Simultaneously, he attended night school, where he developed architectural drafting and engineering skills. Upon completion of his apprenticeship at age 21, he immigrated to North America as an adventure, where he built fences in Winnipeg and learned stair building in Minneapolis. Seeking to pursue his career back home, he returned to England only to discover that the English construction trades demanded more time and service for advancement. He decided that his then capabilities would be more appropriate to the less-structured opportunities in America.

This time, Parkinson went to California, settling in Napa. In 1890, he moved to Seattle, where he opened his first architectural practice. He served as School Board Architect from 1891-94, and designed numerous schools there. Today, four buildings remain as evidence of his Seattle accomplishments.

By the winter of 1893, a serious economic depression had developed in Seattle. Faced with no projects, nor prospects for work, John Parkinson moved on to Los Angeles and opened his architecture office on Spring Street between Second and Third Streets. By 1896, Parkinson had designed the city's first Class "A" fireproof steel-frame structure: the Homer Laughlin Building at Third Street and Broadway. His design for the 1904 Braly Block at Fourth Street and Spring became the first "skyscraper" built in Los Angeles. It held the distinction of being the tallest structure in town until the completion of City Hall in 1928.

In 1905, Parkinson formed a partnership with G. Edwin Bergstrom which lasted for ten years. Parkinson and Bergstrom became the dominant architectural firm for major structures in Los Angeles. Five years after Bergstrom left to establish his own successful practice, John Parkinson was joined in 1920 by his son, Donald B. Parkinson. Parkinson & Parkinson designed many of Los Angeles' finest buildings, which became some of the city's most enduring landmarks. Found on the impressive roster are: the original campus of the University of Southern California (1919-39), the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (1923 and 1930-31), Los Angeles City Hall (1928, with Albert C. Martin/structural and John C. Austin/working drawings), Bullocks-Wilshire (1929) and Union Station (1939). There are many others which, though less well-known, help to define the urban landscape of Los Angeles and Southern California.

Following the deaths of John in 1935 and Donald in 1945, the firm became known as Parkinson, Powelson, Briney, Bernard and Woodford. By 1956, under the name of Woodford and Bernard, the firm continued to develop, and indeed specialize in, communications and transportation-related projects. The Microwave Tower for Pacific Telephone & Telegraph (1961) in downtown Los Angeles again credited the Parkinson firm for the tallest structure in the city.

In 1984, the firm reclaimed the Parkinson name, becoming known as Woodford, Parkinson, Wynn & Partners. The established Phoenix firm of DWL Architects, well known for their medical, educational and transportation design abilities, purchased the company in 1990, and changed the name of their California operation to DWL Parkinson Architects. Wm. Scott Field, AIA, was subsequently hired to manage the Los Angeles DWL office and develop the Preservation Studio, based upon the extensive Parkinson Archives. When DWL discontinued business in California in 1992, Field became the sole owner of the Parkinson firm. Reorganized under the name of Parkinson Field Associates, the revitalized firm returned to downtown L.A.'s Spring Street, officing only a few blocks from where John Parkinson first set up shop. Despite the largely successful Parkinson Centennial Celebration in 1994, Los Angeles unfortunately remained embroiled in an economic recession which had beset Southern California 2 years previously. The Centennial activities served to attract attention to the Historic Core, but urban pioneering for the firm on struggling Spring Street proved to be a few years premature. Today, surrounded by over 50 buildings in downtown designed under the Parkinson banner, Parkinson Field Associates specializes in Historic Preservation Architecture and Planning. The Parkinson Archives, containing over 100 years of projects, is maintained by the firm as a public resource for research and preservation of the Parkinson Legacy.

With client contacts and new projects in Texas, where the local economy was booming, Field made the bold move of the firm to Austin in early 1995. In 1996, the historically-significant Parkinson Archives collection was legally separated from the active Parkinson architectural practice, becoming The Parkinson Archives, LLC, a Texas corporation. (see About Us for more information) Now approaching the ninth year of business, Parkinson Field Associates has grown and prospered in its' new Texas location. Even though 1500 miles separate the firm from its' Los Angeles roots, both Parkinson entities remain inextricably linked to our friends, business associates, and the historic Parkinson firm's built work in Southern California, forever. For more information on the current firm's projects, please click here.