diff --git a/parquet-thrift/src/main/java/org/apache/parquet/thrift/struct/ThriftType.java b/parquet-thrift/src/main/java/org/apache/parquet/thrift/struct/ThriftType.java
index 3d64e8dcf9..5f8afe6d0d 100644
--- a/parquet-thrift/src/main/java/org/apache/parquet/thrift/struct/ThriftType.java
+++ b/parquet-thrift/src/main/java/org/apache/parquet/thrift/struct/ThriftType.java
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/* 
+/*
  * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
  * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
  * distributed with this work for additional information
@@ -6,9 +6,9 @@
  * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
  * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
  * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
- * 
+ *
  *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- * 
+ *
  * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
  * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
  * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ public StructType(List<ThriftField> children) {
     public StructType(@JsonProperty("children") List<ThriftField> children,
                       @JsonProperty("structOrUnionType") StructOrUnionType structOrUnionType) {
       super(STRUCT);
-      this.structOrUnionType = structOrUnionType == null ? StructOrUnionType.UNKNOWN : structOrUnionType;
+      this.structOrUnionType = structOrUnionType == null ? StructOrUnionType.STRUCT : structOrUnionType;
       this.children = children;
       int maxId = 0;
       if (children != null) {
diff --git a/parquet-thrift/src/test/java/org/apache/parquet/thrift/TestThriftSchemaConverter.java b/parquet-thrift/src/test/java/org/apache/parquet/thrift/TestThriftSchemaConverter.java
index cd5fc47eb4..2cde15bb1e 100644
--- a/parquet-thrift/src/test/java/org/apache/parquet/thrift/TestThriftSchemaConverter.java
+++ b/parquet-thrift/src/test/java/org/apache/parquet/thrift/TestThriftSchemaConverter.java
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/* 
+/*
  * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
  * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
  * distributed with this work for additional information
@@ -6,9 +6,9 @@
  * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
  * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
  * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
- * 
+ *
  *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- * 
+ *
  * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
  * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
  * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 import org.apache.parquet.thrift.projection.StrictFieldProjectionFilter;
 import org.apache.parquet.thrift.projection.ThriftProjectionException;
 import org.apache.parquet.thrift.projection.deprecated.DeprecatedFieldProjectionFilter;
+import org.apache.parquet.thrift.struct.ThriftField;
 import org.apache.parquet.thrift.struct.ThriftType;
 import org.apache.parquet.thrift.struct.ThriftType.StructType;
 import org.apache.parquet.thrift.test.compat.MapStructV2;
@@ -34,7 +35,10 @@
 import com.twitter.data.proto.tutorial.thrift.Person;
 import com.twitter.elephantbird.thrift.test.TestStructInMap;
 
+import java.util.Arrays;
+
 import static org.apache.parquet.schema.MessageTypeParser.parseMessageType;
+import static org.apache.parquet.thrift.struct.ThriftField.Requirement.REQUIRED;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
 
@@ -288,6 +292,26 @@ public void testSetPartialProjection() {
     }
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testConvertStructCreatedViaDeprecatedConstructor() {
+    String expected = "message ParquetSchema {\n" +
+      "  required binary a (UTF8) = 1;\n" +
+      "  required binary b (UTF8) = 2;\n" +
+      "}\n";
+
+    ThriftSchemaConverter converter = new ThriftSchemaConverter();
+
+    StructType structType = new StructType(
+      Arrays.asList(
+        new ThriftField("a", (short) 1, REQUIRED, new ThriftType.StringType()),
+        new ThriftField("b", (short) 2, REQUIRED, new ThriftType.StringType())
+      )
+    );
+
+    final MessageType converted = converter.convert(structType);
+    assertEquals(MessageTypeParser.parseMessageType(expected), converted);
+  }
+
   public static void shouldGetProjectedSchema(String deprecatedFilterDesc, String strictFilterDesc, String expectedSchemaStr, Class<? extends TBase<?,?>> thriftClass) {
     MessageType depRequestedSchema = getDeprecatedFilteredSchema(deprecatedFilterDesc, thriftClass);
     MessageType strictRequestedSchema = getStrictFilteredSchema(strictFilterDesc, thriftClass);
diff --git a/parquet-thrift/src/test/java/org/apache/parquet/thrift/struct/TestThriftType.java b/parquet-thrift/src/test/java/org/apache/parquet/thrift/struct/TestThriftType.java
index e700042904..88e8bf1f12 100644
--- a/parquet-thrift/src/test/java/org/apache/parquet/thrift/struct/TestThriftType.java
+++ b/parquet-thrift/src/test/java/org/apache/parquet/thrift/struct/TestThriftType.java
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/* 
+/*
  * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
  * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
  * distributed with this work for additional information
@@ -6,9 +6,9 @@
  * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
  * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
  * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
- * 
+ *
  *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- * 
+ *
  * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
  * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
  * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ public void testWriteUnionInfo() throws Exception {
     assertEquals("{\n"
                 +"  \"id\" : \"STRUCT\",\n"
                 +"  \"children\" : [ ],\n"
-                +"  \"structOrUnionType\" : \"UNKNOWN\"\n"
+                +"  \"structOrUnionType\" : \"STRUCT\"\n"
                 +"}", st.toJSON());
 
     st = new StructType(new LinkedList<ThriftField>(), StructOrUnionType.UNION);
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ public void testParseUnionInfo() throws Exception {
     st = (StructType) StructType.fromJSON("{\"id\": \"STRUCT\", \"children\":[], \"structOrUnionType\": \"STRUCT\"}");
     assertEquals(st.getStructOrUnionType(), StructOrUnionType.STRUCT);
     st = (StructType) StructType.fromJSON("{\"id\": \"STRUCT\", \"children\":[]}");
-    assertEquals(st.getStructOrUnionType(), StructOrUnionType.UNKNOWN);
+    assertEquals(st.getStructOrUnionType(), StructOrUnionType.STRUCT);
     st = (StructType) StructType.fromJSON("{\"id\": \"STRUCT\", \"children\":[], \"structOrUnionType\": \"UNKNOWN\"}");
     assertEquals(st.getStructOrUnionType(), StructOrUnionType.UNKNOWN);
   }