John and Donald Parkinson were a father-and-son architectural firm operating in the Los Angeles area in the early 20th century. They designed and built many of the city's iconic buildings, including Grand Central Market, the Memorial Coliseum and the City Hall. John Parkinson Early years John Parkinson (12 December 1861 - 9 December 1935) was born in the small village of Scorton, in Lancashire, England in 1861. At the age of sixteen, he was apprenticed for six years to Jonas J. Bradshaw, an architect and engineer in nearby Bolton, where he learned craftsmanship and practical construction. He attended night school at Bolton's Mechanics Institute to study architectural drafting and engineering. Upon completion of his apprenticeship at age 21, he immigrated to North America as an adventure; he built fences in Winnipeg and learned stair building in Minneapolis. He returned to England only to discover that the English construction trades demanded more time and service for advancement. He decided that his then capabilities would be more appropriate to the less-structured opportunities in America. Parkinson went to California, settling in Napa where he again worked as a stair-builder, and he took on architectural commissions in his spare time, designing some of his first commercial projects including an annex to the original Bank of Napa building (1888, Demolished). Seattle practice Considering Napa a "dead town", Parkinson ventured north to Seattle in February 1889, where he opened his first architectural practice after failing to secure a position as a draftsman. In March he entered a partnership with Cecil Evers, but this ended little more than a year later; Parkinson would leave Napa for good in September 1889 but would retain professional relationships with local mills to supply lumber and trim. Parkinson's early projects in Puget Sound included the Olympia Hotel, Olympia (1889; destroyed), the Calkins Hotel, Mercer Island (1889; destroyed), and several residences. After the Great Seattle Fire of 6 June 1889, he secured several important business blocks, the Butler Block (1889–90; altered), and the Seattle National Bank Building, later called the Interurban Building (1890–92), an exemplary work of Romanesque Revival architecture. In 1891, Parkinson won the design competition for the B.F. Day School (1891–92; altered), located in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. Thereafter the Seattle School Board appointed Parkinson as the Seattle Schools Architect and Superintendent. Parkinson was responsible for all Seattle Schools projects over the next several years, including the Pacific School