Can you Instantiate an Object Instance from JSON in .NET?

var person = new {
    FirstName = "Chris",
    LastName = "Johnson"
};

T deserialize<T>(string jsonStr, T obj) { /* ... */}

 var jsonString = "{FirstName='Chris', LastName='Johnson, Other='unused'}";
 var person     = deserialize(jsonString, new {FirstName="",LastName=""});
 var x          = person.FirstName; //strongly-typed

var obj = ParseJsonToDictionary("{FirstName: "Chris", "Address":{Street:"My Street",Number:123}}");

// Access the Address.Number value
object streetNumber = ((Dictionary<string, object>)obj["Address"])["Number"];

public static Dictionary<string, object> ParseJsonToDictionary(string json)
{
    var d = new Dictionary<string, object>();

    if (json.StartsWith("{"))
    {
        json = json.Remove(0, 1);
        if (json.EndsWith("}"))
            json = json.Substring(0, json.Length - 1);
    }
    json.Trim();

    // Parse out Object Properties from JSON
    while (json.Length > 0)
    {
        var beginProp = json.Substring(0, json.IndexOf(':'));
        json = json.Substring(beginProp.Length);

        var indexOfComma = json.IndexOf(',');
        string endProp;
        if (indexOfComma > -1)
        {
            endProp = json.Substring(0, indexOfComma);
            json = json.Substring(endProp.Length);
        }
        else
        {
            endProp = json;
            json = string.Empty;
        }

        var curlyIndex = endProp.IndexOf('{');
        if (curlyIndex > -1)
        {
            var curlyCount = 1;
            while (endProp.Substring(curlyIndex + 1).IndexOf("{") > -1)
            {
                curlyCount++;
                curlyIndex = endProp.Substring(curlyIndex + 1).IndexOf("{");
            }
            while (curlyCount > 0)
            {
                endProp += json.Substring(0, json.IndexOf('}') + 1);
                json = json.Remove(0, json.IndexOf('}') + 1);
                curlyCount--;
            }
        }

        json = json.Trim();
        if (json.StartsWith(","))
            json = json.Remove(0, 1);
        json.Trim();


        // Individual Property (Name/Value Pair) Is Isolated
        var s = (beginProp + endProp).Trim();


        // Now parse the name/value pair out and put into Dictionary
        var name = s.Substring(0, s.IndexOf(":")).Trim();
        var value = s.Substring(name.Length + 1).Trim();

        if (name.StartsWith(""") && name.EndsWith("""))
        {
            name = name.Substring(1, name.Length - 2);
        }

        double valueNumberCheck;
        if (value.StartsWith(""") && value.StartsWith("""))
        {
            // String Value
            d.Add(name, value.Substring(1, value.Length - 2));
        }
        else if (value.StartsWith("{") && value.EndsWith("}"))
        {
            // JSON Value
            d.Add(name, ParseJsonToDictionary(value));
        }
        else if (double.TryParse(value, out valueNumberCheck))
        {
            // Numeric Value
            d.Add(name, valueNumberCheck);
        }
        else
            d.Add(name, value);
    }

    return d;
}