Introduction

Construction of the Johnson Building, as the eight story building at 412 Milam Street is commonly known, began in 1919 and was completed in 1920. It was built by Col. J B Ardis and was known for many years as the Ardis Building.

This was Shreveport's third major office building and was, by the standards of the day, a skyscraper. Among tall buildings in Shreveport (structures over five stories in height), only the old Commercial National Bank Building at 509 Market (built 1910; 10 stories) and the Merchants Bank Building at 200 Milam (built 1917 demolished 1984; 13 stories) preceded it. As with those buildings, it has a richly embellished lower facade and upper portion, both of masonry, with a simpler portion of yellow brick in-between. A substantial portion of the street level facade has been remodeled or hidden behind later cosmetic alterations.

Throughout most of its history the building was home to a variety of offices, primarily oil and gas businesses but also attorneys, physicians, dentists, real estate brokers, and others. Through most of its history a beauty salon and cafe were found on the ground floor. Today (1998) its sole tenant is a restaurant in the longtime cafe space: Kelly's Poboys, now a downtown Shreveport institution.

In the late 1930s the building was purchased by W. Harry Johnson, founder (in 1924) and owner of the Tri-State Transit Company. Johnson's company, which operated interstate bus lines, was the nation's largest privately-held motor transport line, holding franchises in nine Southern states. He also owned a real estate firm, a large cattle business, a potato dehydrating business, and a brick manufacturing business. Just prior to his death in 1943 he applied for television permits in five cities, though he did not live to see the advent of television as the medium he correctly foresaw its coming. He also owned an air conditioning plant in Phoenix, Arizona.

In 1940 the Johnson Building, as it came to be known under Johnson's ownership, became the first office structure in Shreveport to receive central air conditioning (the first actually built with the feature was the then-new Commercial National Bank Building nearby, completed in 1941 -- W. H. Johnson's grandfather, Benjamin M. Johnson, was the principal founder of Commercial National Bank in 1852 as Johnson's Exchange Banking House). Johnson's purchase of the building was made in order to bring all of his businesses together under a single roof. Extra space continued to be leased out, including space leased to the offices of the Shreveport Railways Company, which operated the city's streetcar and bus lines. In 1951 the name "Johnson Building," long the informal name of the structure, was made its official title.

In 1996 virtually all remaining tenants of the Johnson Building vacated the structure at the request of its owners, the Ramsey and allied family of Shreveport, descendants of W. Harry Johnson for whom the building is named.

The Product

The proposed floor plans for the Johnson Building present forty-nine apartments ranging in size from 789 to 1108 square feet. These apartments consist of thirty- five one bedroom/one bath and fourteen two bedroom/one bath apartments. Proximity to nearby restaurants and the courthouse makes the Johnson Building a prime candidate for future residential and retail development.

Johnson Building