John W. Beal

John Woodbridge Beal (July 12, 1887 – December 3, 1971) was an American architect who was a partner of J. Williams Beal, Sons.

Early life Beal was born on July 12, 1887, in Hanover, Massachusetts to J. Williams Beal and Mary Woodbridge (Howes) Beal. He graduated from Hanover High School, where he played on the football and baseball teams. He attended Thayer Academy, but dropped out due to appendicitis and decided not to attend college. Instead, he joined the office of his father.

Architecture

In 1912, J. Williams Beal took ill and John Beal took a more active role in the company. The elder Beal died in 1919. John Beal and his brother founded J. Williams Beal, Sons. He specialized in construction while his brother Horatio did the design work (a third brother, Robert, was a landscape architect associated with the firm, but not as a partner).

Buildings designed by J. Williams Beal, Sons included the Granite Trust Company building, Bethany Congregational Church, Plymouth County Hospital, Repertory Theatre of Boston (now the Boston University Theatre), the Plymouth County Courthouse in Brockton, the Hyannis Town Office, Peoples National Bank of Marlboro, and a number of school buildings. In 1938 he worked for Saltonstall's gubernatorial campaign. Beal's term expired on November 30, 1940 and he announced that he would not accept reappointment.

Bribery conviction On March 5, 1942, John W. and Horatio Beal were indicted on charges of conspiring to give bribes to Cambridge, Massachusetts Mayor John W. Lyons, who in 1938 awarded J. Williams Beal, Sons a contract to design the Cambridge Tuberculosis Hospital. John W. Beal was also charged with 12 counts of giving the bribes to Lyons, as well as two counts of perjury (one for lying to a grand jury investigating the city of Cambridge's building program and one for lying during the trial of Lyons and his codefendant Paul Mannos). Anthony Spinelli, the contractor for the hospital project, was also indicted.

On May 26, 1942, the Beals and Spinelli were found guilty conspiracy to commit bribery and John W. Beal was found guilty of 10 counts of bribery. John W. Beal was sentenced to a year in jail. He was paroled on January 5, 1944.

Later life and death After Horatio's death in 1964, Beal managed J. Williams Beal, Sons with H. Story Granger and Edward A. J. Poskus. He was active in the firm until his death on December 3, 1971.