Designer Profile: John Newton, John Newtown-Designs

Though raised in a land of housing tracts and strip malls, John Newton didn’t let the cookie-cutter surroundings dull his desire to design, build and create.

“As in a kid, I always gravitated to building models and making things,” he said. “I pretty much just needed masking tape, tin foil and cardboard and I was good to go.”

Raised in Huntington Beach, Newton arrived in the East Bay in 1986 and studied architecture at UC Berkeley. The Oakland Firestorm ravaged the region shortly after he graduated in 1991, and Newton eventually found work drafting plans for homes to replace those lost in the fire. In addition to planning, Newton worked on building sites, gaining an appreciation for the construction process and better understand of what works and what doesn’t.

His solo career began in 1994, and since then he’s helped developers build scores of homes in the East Bay and Contra Costa County. He credits his success to his team, Leila Mashhoodi, Miguel Lievano and Sarah Mercado. Lola, Newton’s Sheepadoodle, a mix of sheepdog and poodle, helps keep a calming vibe around the office, he said.

Newton recently developed plans for 18 homes in Oakland’s Piedmont Avenue neighborhood. Fourteen of the homes are already built and sold, the other four have yet to be constructed.

Each of these homes features decorative woodwork on their facades and interior stairways. Woodwork crafted by Newton himself.

In this interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Newton talks about guiding clients through the design process, the computer program he can’t imagine life without and his willingness to admit and learn from mistakes.

Q: What’s your favorite style of architecture?

A: My personal preference is for more traditional architecture. I live in a 1926 house and find the...