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 since its inception in 1842. He took over the role from his father, John Butler, in 1895.

Dixon 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 describes him as "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.

Dixon Butler was born in London and studied architecture under Richard Norman Shaw. With Shaw he would later work on the designs for Canon Row Police Station (1898), and the Scotland Yard (south building) (1906) on London's Embankment. Dixon Butler's designs were usually in a domestic style, sensitive to the context of newly-developed suburban areas in which stations were often located, but with 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, Dixon Butler worked up until his death in 1920. He was succeeded in the role of surveyor to the Metropolitan Police by Gilbert Mackenzie Trench, the same year.