# John T. Jacobsen

John Theodore Jacobsen (February 20, 1903 – March 6, 1998) was an American architect active in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii. Born in Seattle, Jacobsen studied architecture at the University of Washington and the University of Pennsylvania during the early 1920s. He traveled to the Soviet Union in 1926, where he designed several schools, before embarking on travels in Europe, South America, and Africa. He studied fresco painting in France before returning to the United States, where he worked for a period at architectural firms in New York City and at Colonial Williamsburg. Returning to Seattle in 1932, he designed bas-relief murals before becoming an instructor at the University of Washington and beginning private practice.
In 1938, he traveled across Scandinavia on an American Institute of Architects scholarship, where he studied modern housing developments. He worked on a number of housing projects on his return, including the Yesler Terrace housing project. After a period of work alongside Victor N. J. Jones in the late 1940s, he moved to Hawaii, where he designed many of Honolulu's early high-rises as the resident architect of John Graham & Company. He returned to private practice in the 1960s and 1970s, where he designed the Maui retirement residence of Charles Lindbergh and facilities at Sea Life Park Hawaii. He took an interest in architectural conservation in Hawaii, traveling across the islands to document historic sites for the National Register of Historic Places.

## Biography

On February 20, 1903, John Theodore Jacobsen was born in Seattle to Barbara Mae Amunds Jacobsen and John Peter Jacobsen. His father was a Danish immigrant to the United States who had become a prominent local businessman; he owned the Oregon Hotel in downtown Seattle, served as the Danish Vice-Consul in Seattle, and received Danish knighthood. Jacobsen's mother died when he was two years old, and he spent much of his childhood with his father, stepmother, and their two servants. By 1920, the family lived in Des Moines, Washington.
Jacobsen began attending the University of Washington in the early 1920s, where he studied under Carl F. Gould, receiving a Bachelor of Architecture from the school in 1924. After this, he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia to pursue a Master of Architecture, which he obtained in 1926. While in Philadelphia, he briefly worked for the firm of architect Charles Klauder. After graduation he traveled to the Soviet Union, where he designed several schools. This began several years of travel across Europe, South America, and Africa. In 1928 he attended a summer program in Fontainebleau, France, where he studied fresco painting. He returned to the United States around 1929. He worked at various architectural firms in New York City, including under Ely Jacques Kahn for a brief period. He assisted with the reconstruction of Colonial Williamsburg in 1931, before returning to Seattle.
From 1932 to 1936, Jacobsen worked at the firm of Robert F. McClelland and Victor N. J. Jones. While employed at McClelland & Jones, he designed large-scale bas-relief murals at the Everett Public Library and the University of Washington's Suzzallo Library. By 1936, he became an instructor at the University of Washington and began private architectural practice. He gained attention for the design of his own house in Madison Park, alongside various other residences in Seattle over the course of the 1930s. He became one of the main contributors to the emerging Northwest Regional modernist style, with work featured in a variety of contemporary architectural publications such as Pacific Architect & Builder.
Jacobsen was nominated for and received a Langley Scholarship from the American Institute of Architects in 1938, with which he traveled across Scandinavia studying housing developments; this would go on to strongly influence his architectural philosophy. From 1939 to 1942, he worked alongside a wide group of other local architects in designing Yesler Terrace, the first racially-integrated public housing project in the United States. He also worked on the Stewart Heights housing project in Kirkland, Washington, in 1941–1942, on a site now occupied by Northwest University.
From 1942 to 1945, Jacobsen worked alongside Earl W. Morrison. After this, he returned to working with Victor Jones, with whom he designed the Bannock County Hospital in Pocatello, Gerberding Hall at the University of Washington, and the Richmond Highlands branch of the Seattle Trust & Savings Bank in Shoreline. He moved with his family to Hawaii during the 1950s, where he became the resident architect of John Graham & Company, with whom he designed the Ilikai Hotel and the Ala Moana Shopping Center. He worked with developer Lloyd Martin to construct a number of Honolulu's early high-rises, including the Admiral Cook Apartment Hotel in Waikiki. He then returned again to private practice in the late 1960s and 1970s, designing the research facilities of Sea Life Park Hawaii, and the retirement home of aviator Charles Lindbergh in Hana, Maui.
During Jacobsen's time in Hawaii, he took a strong interest in architectural conservation. He took a survey of historic churches in Maui, and worked with the Bishop Museum as a historic architecture specialist. In 1969, he compiled the Lahaina Architectural Style Book, which set design standards for buildings and infrastructure in Lahaina. He traveled across Hawaii in 1974 to document and list various sites on the National Register of Historic Places.

### Personal life

In 1931, Jacobsen married Priscilla Chase in Peterborough, New Hampshire. They had twin daughters before Priscilla's death in California in 1942. In 1945, Jacobsen married his figure skating partner Florence Louise Bull in Seattle; the two would also go on to have two daughters. Jacobsen died in Honolulu on March 6, 1998. He was buried at the Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Seattle.

## Works

Works by John T. Jacobsen :
| Name | Location | Date |
| Robert & Margaret Minshall House | Seattle, Washington | 1936 |
| Jacobsen House | Seattle, Washington | 1936 |
| George P. Norton House | 6802 51st Avenue NE, Seattle, Washington | 1938 |
| Dudley Pratt House (addition) | Seattle, Washington | 1939 |
| Goslin House | Seattle, Washington | 1939 |
| Andrew Gunby House | 1118 Roanoke Street, Seattle, Washington | 1939 |
| C. E. Strother House | Seattle, Washington | 1939 |
| Yesler Terrace housing project | Seattle, Washington | 1939–1942 |
| Stewart Heights housing project | Kirkland, Washington | 1941–1942 |
| Bannock County Hospital | Pocatello, Idaho | 1946 |
| Armbruster House | Seattle, Washington | 1946 |
| Gerberding Hall | University of Washington, Seattle, Washington | 1947–1950 |
| Miller Hall | Bush School, Seattle, Washington | 1948 |
| Richmond Highlands Branch, Seattle Trust & Savings Bank | Shoreline, Washington | 1954 |
| Jacobsen House | 2189 Roundtop Drive, Makiki, Honolulu, Hawaii | 1957 |
| Ala Moana Shopping Center | Honolulu, Hawaii | 1958–1960 |
| Ilikai Hotel | Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii | 1962–1964 |
| Sea Life Park | 41–202 Kalanianaole Highway, Waimānalo, Hawaii | 1964 |
| Charles Lindbergh House | Hana, Hawaii | 1971 |
| Town House Apartments | Honolulu, Hawaii | – |
| Admiral Cook Apartments | Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii | – |
| Arcadia Retirement Residences | Honolulu, Hawaii | – |
| Gold Bond Building | Honolulu, Hawaii | – |
| Hawaii Yacht Club | 1739 Ala Moana Boulevard, Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii | – |
| Rosalie Apartments | Honolulu, Hawaii | – |