John Howe was born in Evanston, Illinois on May 17, 1913. Immediately following graduation from Evanston High School in 1932 Howe joined the Taliesin Fellowship of Frank Lloyd Wright, in Spring Green, Wisconsin, becoming a charter member of the Fellowship and apprentice to Mr. Wright. He has often been called "the pencil in Mr. Wright's hand" for his work on hundreds of architectural renderings.

Howe stayed on at Taliesin until 1964 as one of the Taliesin Associated Architects, during which time he designed more than thirty structures throughout the United States. In 1964 Howe joined the San Francisco (CA) office of Aaron Green, the West Coast representative of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, and worked there until 1967. Howe then moved to Minnesota and opened an office which he maintained until his retirement in 1992. After retirement John Howe and his wife Lu Sparks Howe moved to California. He died in Novato, California on September 21, 1997.