John Fraser

Who was John Fraser?

John Fraser was a Scottish-born American architect who practiced in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.

His most significant surviving building is the Union League of Philadelphia, a High Victorian, Second Empire gentlemen's club constructed of brick and brownstone.

His career is overshadowed by that of his former student and one-time partner, Frank Furness, whose influence is visible in Fraser's Washington, D.C. mansions for James G. Blaine and John T. Brodhead.

He served as acting supervisory architect for the U.S. Treasury, created a master plan for the U.S. Capitol grounds, and served on the commission to complete Robert Mills's Washington Monument.

He was one of the founders of the Philadelphia chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

He maintained a residence in Riverton, New Jersey, and designed a number of buildings there. By 1888, he had entered into a partnership with his son Archibald, and continued working until about 1902.