center piece

WRITTEN BY Nancy Barnes • PHOTOGRAPHED BY Michael Moran Photography, Inc.

Designing to Please

Facing page, top, the West side of a Kent residence designed by Halper WINNING WASHINGTON FIRM Owens Architects LLC of Washington and Greenwich, and bottom, the South side. Clockwise from above, the East side, a fireplace, an interior staircase and the kitchen, all in the same home, whose design won an he career of Washington Depot architect Reese Owens proves award from the state chapter of the American Institute of Architects. just how small the world of New York architects can be. “It’s a pretty tight group, and people who are coming to town from That’s where I met Jon,” he said of the architect with whom he has part- different programs meet people from other offices one way or nered in the firm of Halper Owens Architects LLC since 1987. another,” Mr. Owens said recently, seated at a glass table in “That’s one of the highlights of my career so far,” Mr. Halper later anT office overlooking the high-spirited Shepaug River. deadpanned of the S.L.A.M. experience. He recalled the days when, with his master’s degree in architecture from When the two set up shop in Connecticut, Mr. Halper, who had mar- , he played in the New York-based architects’ softball ried a Fairfield County native, took the reins of the firm’s office in league known as S.L.A.M., a somewhat tongue-in-cheek acronym for the Greenwich, and Mr. Owens has held sway at the firm’s office in Softball League Après Moderne, as an architect with the firm of Washington Depot. Gwathmey Siegel Associates Architects. “I was the pitcher, and he used In October, the award-winning firm added two more accolades to its to hit the home runs off of me,” he said of a graduate of Harvard’s archi- record, with the Connecticut chapter of the American Institute of tectural program named Jon Halper, who was a senior designer with the Architects citing the firm for two projects in its AIA Connecticut 2008 equally prestigious firm of Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. “It would drive Design Awards—one a commercial venue completed by Mr. Halper, and me crazy.” the second a very secluded residence in Kent, which was the work of Mr. “And Gene Kohn, a marvelous guy, had hired Jon really right out of Owens with the assistance of project architect Daniel Sullivan. Harvard. It was always a question whether Gene hired people because of Born in Hartford, Mr. Owens grew up in New Preston with an early their ability to play baseball or their ability to practice architecture. He interest in the fine arts. “I loved to draw. I loved to paint,” he said, adding really was a nut of a sports fan … . So, Gene grabbed Jon in a heartbeat, ▲ that he worked construction in the summer. “I was a grunt for a 32 because Jon is a great ballplayer, in addition to being a great architect.

30 LCT DECEMBER 2008 THE LITCHFIELD COUNTY TIMES MONTHLY 31 Looking for something unique? HALPER OWENS DESIGNS IN MANY STYLES

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▲ small construction compa- thinking, postmodernism was not ny, so I swept floors, pounded welcomed,” he said. “Re-creation nails, cut floors … .” Aware that of early modern thinking was fash- BANTAM BOUTIQUES! Mr. Owens always did reasonably ionable. People were studying well in mathematics, his father, [Corbusier] all over again, and who was a doctor, steered him deeply. The rationalists were a big toward architec- deal. Stirling was ture, which he big. Peter Eisen- began studying at man was big. And Northshore the undergraduate this was the late Road level at the Uni- 70’s. I think [Sir versity of Virginia ‘We don’t have a Wamogo James Frazer] Road School of Archi- style. We don’t Stirling did enor- • Litchfield Pet Supply - health food store for pets tecture. “I loved it. mously interesting • Papineau Studio - local artisans and natural gifts I never looked endeavor to sign work, and highly • Three Oaks Chocolatier - handcrafted gourmet treats back,” said the our buildings.’ varied. Stirling did • Passage to Wellness - ionic foot baths professional who all kinds of things, went on to take his and got quite master’s in archi- bored with singu- tecture at Yale lar vocabularies. University, where He used to do all he found the intellectual chemistry sorts of different vocabularies.” of New Haven extraordinary. Although Mr. Owens found Litchfield (East) Maple Street Meanwhile, Mr. Halper, a architectural giant Chicago native, was taking his influential, the work of Halper undergraduate work in architecture Owens, in the variety of its stylistic • Ella’s Limited - fine art & framing at the University of Illinois before vocabularies, seems to hew more • Litchfield Catering & Deli - soup & sandwiches going on to take his master’s closely in to the work Stirling degree at Harvard. (1926-1992), the Pritzker Prize- In spite of the surge of the post- winning Scottish architect, whose Euro Source - antiques & furniture • modernist architectural style in the body of work includes Harvard • Kitchen & Bath Design & Construction Bantam later part of the 20th century, Mr. University’s Arthur M. Sackler • Bantam Bread - traditional health baked bread Owens found his training at Yale Museum. Lake rooted in modernism. “In the “We don’t have a style. We don’t • The Old Carriage Shop Antiques Center, LLC. schools that sort of considered endeavor to sign our buildings,” themselves leaders in academic said Mr. Owens, whose own design

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32 LCT MONTH 2006 tains a surprisingly contemporary, John Halper, far left, and if referentially agrarian, tone. Reese “We extended the living space on Owens, in each end of the barn,” he said of a photographs residence constructed largely of courtesy of cedar materials. “It was our choice Halper to extend it four feet each end Owens beyond the frame. It’s just kind of Architects. an oversized sculpture. It makes it all something a little bit richer than a simple shelter.” Back in his days with Gwathmey Siegel, Mr. Owens attended a meet- ing for one of Charles Gwathmey’s projects. “I once sat in a meeting with George Lucas, , Amy Irving, Charlie [Gwathmey] and myself,” he said of a design Mr. Spielberg wanted for a residence at Trump Tower. “It was glamorous for me. For Charlie, it was run of work includes a Greek Revival of the large store’s millwork, and, to turn the structure into what he successful meeting of modern and the mill.” structure—this, an imposing and, from his office in Greenwich, he termed a “real beautiful showroom traditional vocabularies.” Today, Mr. Owens demurs on also, award-winning structure in has handled the design of a number that would almost be like a muse- “There were a lot of ideas whether his office has designed Washington. The firm also com- of other Ralph Lauren projects. um to the heritage of [the client’s] behind that building,” Mr. Owens projects for any of Litchfield pleted Hedgerow Cottage in North “It’s not an equation,” Mr. company.” Especially grand is the observed of the Kent residence, County’s better-known residents. Salem, N.Y., from a mid-century Halper said of the shops on which paneled oak portal with classical thinking in part of an antique barn “Not that we publicize,” he said. modernist structure. The home was he has worked. These include one details Mr. Halper designed as the frame his office located in New “You know what the demographics a 2003 house of the month in the in Aspen, Colo., with a river rock entranceway at the back of the York state and the multitude of ref- are of our region and what segment Architectural Record. fireplace and a buffalo head above showroom, where the center’s erences people have with timber of society actually believes that Mr. Owens said the firm’s the mantel. “It’s a real collabora- detailing work is found. frames. “It’s the marriage of that architects bring value to projects,” strength lay in its “strong grasp and tive effort with the Ralph Lauren Mr. Owens’ award falls in the with a more spare architectural he said to a visitor. “Inevitably, facility with the vocabulary of the store development people, who are AIA’s residential category, where vocabulary,” he said of a residence there’s a sprinkling of notorious project. We involve our clients as designers and architects as well. the jury lauded the “co-existence that, set well back off a private folks in that group. Inevitably, they deeply as they’re willing to be They work with their people to of the old and the new in a very lane in the Kent landscape, main- sometimes call us.” ■ involved, believing that the more develop what is the appropriate deterministic the project feels the image in general terms for that better it is … .” location. We have many meetings “When you … accept a different with them. We start to brainstorm. vocabulary, a traditional vocabu- We’ll do sketches of what the DENSCOT POOL & SPA lary, it is enormously challenging façade might look like … . It’s a CERTIFIED GUNITE BUILDING PROFESSIONAL to do it well,” he continued. “You back-and-forth. We’re the ones 269 New Milford Tpke. (Rte. 202) New Preston, CT 06777 have to learn it. You have to study who are responsible for resolving it. You have to understand its ori- all the design issues and bringing gins, and its origins may be two or them to light.” three layers deep. If it’s a revivalist In Litchfield County, Mr. type of style, or a hybrid type of Owens’ office was responsible for style, it’s quite challenging. It’s not the design of the spa at the simple. And that’s the good news. Mayflower Inn and Spa and It enables us to keep exposing our- Allerton House, a project, he con- selves to different things, to learn- ceded, the office completed in the ing how to do new details for a dif- town of Washington on a swift ferent type of house or a different timetable. In New Milford, the project.” office completed the preservation “People come to us because we of a facade on historic Bank Street. have a range and a facility in many For one of the firm’s award-win- styles, and we have a consistent ning projects this year, Mr. Halper quality level, irrespective of the redesigned what the Connecticut style. We wouldn’t want to be chapter of the AIA lauded as a suc- pigeonholed. It would become bor- cessful adaptive reuse project and ing,” he said. that it termed a modest project with In New York, Mr. Halper served high impact. New Construction, Renovation, Repair, as the architect in the office of leg- “This was an underutilized space endary interior designer Naomi that was a partial warehouse [and] Weekly Service, Project Management, Retail Store Leff, who completed the redesign barely a showroom that had some of the Rhinelander Mansion at odds and ends. The second floor Excavation Madison Avenue and 72nd Street had really minimal headroom,” into the flagship store for Ralph Mr. Halper said of the Interstate “Everything for your pool & spa” Lauren. For the Madison Avenue Design Center, which sits off I-95 Licensed, Insured Est. 1994 Tel. 860-868-7535 venue, Mr. Halper detailed much in Greenwich. There, his job was

THE LITCHFIELD COUNTY TIMES MONTHLY 33