John Desmond

Who was John Desmond?

John Jacob Desmond was an American architect in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who designed such public buildings as the Baton Rouge River Center, the Louisiana State University Student Union, Bluebonnet Swamp Interpretive Center, Louisiana Arts and Sciences Center, Louisiana State Archives, the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State Library, and the Louisiana Naval Museum. He also designed the United States Embassy building in Monrovia, Liberia, the Lindy Boggs Center at his own alma mater, Tulane University in New Orleans, and the cafeteria at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, the principal city of Tangipahoa Parish.

Desmond and his firm, Desmond, Miremont & Burks, later John Desmond and Associates, also designed numerous churches, including Grace Memorial Episcopal Church in Hammond and St. Joseph's Cathedral, Westminster Presbyterian Church of Baton Rouge, Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church, and the Catholic Life Center, all in Baton Rouge.