JACKSON & ROSENCRANS, architects of New York City, specialized in the design of buildings for the Young Men's Christian Association in the United States and Canada. Their classically composed Beaux Arts compositions in this country were usually executed in collaboration with a local Canadian architectural firm which undertook the day-to-day supervision of construction and administration of each building contract.
John F. Jackson (1867-1948) was born in Saint John, N.B. and served an apprenticeship with the Buffalo, N.Y. firm of Green & Wicks. In 1901 he moved to New York City and formed a partnership with E.J. Rosencrans; together they planned more than seventy Y.M.C.A. buildings in North America including branches in Manhattan, Harlem, Rochester, Elmira and Watertown, N.Y. and in Jersey City and Passaic, N.J.. Their designs for these structures were successful early precedents for mixed-use buildings combining classrooms, dormitory accommodation, an assembly hall, library and athletic rooms, all of which were enclosed in a facade of brick, stone and terra cotta with neo-Greek detailing of an unusually high standard. Jackson continued to practise in New York until 1942 when he moved to Passaic, N.J. He died there on 26 April 1948 (obituary in the New York Times, 28 April 1948, 28).
(with J. Albert Ewart) OTTAWA, ONT., Young Men's Christian Association, Metcalfe Street at Laurier Avenue, 1908-08 (Evening Journal [Ottawa], 9 Feb. 1907, 1, illus. & descrip.; 31 Jan. 1908, 5, descrip.; C.R., xxii, 21 Oct. 1908, 18, 22-4, illus. & descrip.; Brickbuilder [Boston], xx, Aug. 1911, 171, illus.)
(with Ross & MacFarlane) HALIFAX, N.S., Young Men's Christian Association, Barrington Street, 1908-10 (Evening Mail [Halifax], 30 May 1908, 12, t.c.; C.R., xxii, 24 June 1908, 25; E. Pacey, Historic Halifax, 1988, 98-9, illus.)
(with Ross & MacFarlane) WESTMOUNT, QUE., Young Men's Christian Association, Sherbrooke Street West at Arlington Avenue, 1909-10 (C.R., xxiv, 6 April 1910, 26; Montreal Daily Star, 8 June 1909, 7, illus. with signed perspective drawing)
(with John H.G. Russell) WINNIPEG, MAN., Young Men's Christian Association, Vaughan Street, near Portage Avenue, 1910-11 (Winnipeg Daily Tribune, 30 July 1910, 1 & 15, illus. & descrip.; C.R., xxv, 31 May 1911, 60; Manitoba Free Press [Winnipeg], 28 Oct. 1911, Magazine Section, 3, illus. & descrip.; Winnipeg, 1985-The Year Past, 1987, 53-4, illus. & descrip.)
WINNIPEG, MAN., The North End Young Men's Christian Association, Selkirk Avenue at Powers Street, 1910-12 (Winnipeg Daily Tribune, 30 July 1910, 1 & 15, illus. & descrip.; 20 April 1912, 2, descrip.)
(with Ross & MacFarlane) MONTREAL, QUE., a 5 storey block for the Central Young Men's Christian Association, Drummond Street, 1911-12 (Montreal Daily Star, 22 Dec. 1910, 10, illus. & descrip.; La Presse [Montreal], 26 Dec. 1910, 8, illus.; Const., vi, July 1913, 253-59, illus. & descrip.; Montreal, Les Edifices Publics, 1981, 304-07, illus.)