John Dixon Butler

John Dixon Butler RA, FRIBA (December 1860 – 27 October 1920) was a British architect who for 25 years was the surveyor for the Metropolitan Police in London. He was the fifth architect to hold the post from its inception in 1842. He took over the role from his father in 1895.

Butler completed the designs and alterations to around 200 London police buildings, including ten courts; as of 2022, about 60 of his buildings survive. Historic England describe him as having been "one of the most accomplished Metropolitan Police architects" and have included around 25 of his buildings on the National Historic List of England and Wales.

Butler was born in London and studied architecture under Richard Norman Shaw. With Shaw he would work on the designs for Canon Row Police Station (1898), and the Scotland Yard (south building) (1906) on London's Embankment. Butler's designs were usually in a domestic style, sensitive to the context of the newly-developed suburban areas in which the stations were often located. Each of his designs included strong municipal qualities such as iron railings, inscribed lintels identifying the building as a police station, and other stone dressings.

Elected a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1906, Butler worked up until his death in 1920. He was succeeded in the role of surveyor to the Metropolitan Police by Gilbert Mackenzie Trench.