John Christiansen

John Christiansen, of Boston, Massachusetts, passed away suddenly at his home in Kennebunk, at the age of 83 on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. John was born May 15, 1941, in Aurora, Nebraska, to parents Meinhardt and Avis Christiansen. After graduation from the local high school, where he played basketball and track and field, John went on to study architecture at the University of Nebraska. In 1970 John graduated with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture from Yale University School of Architecture.

During John’s six-decade-long career he worked at firms Pancoast, Ferindino, Grafton, Skeels (1970-1972), Charles Moore and Associates (1967-1969), Stull Associates (1970-1972), Desmond and Lord (1975-1981), and Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson and Abbot where he returned after working previously (1965-1967 and 1972-1975) to work full-time in 1981 until his retirement in 2016 where he generously mentored generations of young architects in the firm.

“We are thankful for all John has contributed to the firm with a portfolio of work that ranged from Mather House at Harvard to the Sterling and Gilmore Music Libraries at Yale, many projects at Illinois Wesleyan, Christopher Newport University, Worcester Trial Court, and the Groton School,” said Shepley Bulfinch President Emeritus Carole Wedge, FAIA. “He leaves a long legacy of friends, colleagues, and designers he has taught and befriended in the course of a career that touched six decades.”

John proudly served on the Back Bay Architectural Committee from 1984 -2024. In 2015, John was given the Prindle Award for outstanding service by the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay. The award noted that “over the years John has been both a “Conscience” and a “Back Bone” for the commission, “a thoughtful and articulate representative of the neighborhood voice, John has most often been a definer of that voice, not a follower of it. He has used his skills and perspective to shape our neighborhood.”

In 1970, John married his wife Susan Van Voorhis at her family home in Newark, Ohio. The two of them lived in Boston, and went on to have one son, Daniel. In 2016 John retired from Shepley Bulfinch, spending his time between Boston and Kennebunk, where he rooted for the Red Sox and the Celtics, continued to design and consult on projects for friends and family, mentored students at the Boston Architectural Center, and continued to serve on the Back Bay Architecture Commission.

John is survived by his wife Susan, son Daniel, and brother Martin.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to Friends of the Public Garden in Boston at friendsofthepublicgarden.org/.

To share a memory or leave a message of condolence please visit John‘s Book of Memories Page at www.bibberfuneral.com.

Arrangements are in the care of Bibber Memorial Chapel, 67 Summer St., Kennebunk, ME 04043.