Peterson was born to Wesley and Joan Peterson, in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Shortly after his birth, Peterson's physician father moved to Sarasota, Florida to open a medical practice. Living in Sarasota, his adolescence was spent surrounded by great architecture. A movement known as the Sarasota School of Architecture was founded there, and the community was replete with dozens of examples of it. Peterson lived near the Sanderling Beach Club and attended high school at Riverview High School, both designs by architect Paul Rudolph. He was particularly influenced by the Syd Solomon Studio on Siesta Key by Gene Leedy. He attended college at the University of Florida, earning a bachelor's degree in design and a master's degree in architecture. After a brief stint in Tallahassee, he opened an architecture office in Sarasota in the late 1980s, offering both commercial and residential design services. Over the next four decades, Peterson designed more than 200 structures in southwest Florida. His most well-known private works are Spencer House, Theisen House, Freund House, Ashridge House, Durbin House, Ohana Retreat, and Anaclerio House. His public work includes Girl Scout Gulf Coast Headquarters, Sarasota Memorial HospitalCritical Care Center, SPARCC Shelter, Selby Memorial, Midway Fire Station, Longboat Key Police Station, the Elling Eide Center and the Nathan Benderson Park Finish Tower. Throughout his career, Peterson has done numerous pro-bono projects for non-profit organizations, including the creation of UF CityLab Sarasota and the renovation and preservation of several historic Sarasota School designs. Peterson restored the architecturally-significant Revere Quality House in 2007 and it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places the following year. He also restored the Scott Building, converting it into the Center for Architecture Sarasota, a community-based architecture/cultural organization. Renamed the McCulloch Pavilion, the renovated work was included in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2017. Peterson is a frequent lecturer on architecture and an adjunct professor of architecture at the University of Florida.
Notable career achievements
The American Institute of Architects Florida Gold Medal was awarded to Peterson in 2016,. Peterson was elected into the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects in 2003. He received the AIA Florida Presidential Millennium Award of Honor for Design in 2000. Guy Peterson Office For Architecture was awarded AIA Florida Firm of the Year in 2013. He has also been recognized for career achievement by the University of Florida School of Architecture, the Sarasota Architectural Foundation, and the American Jewish Committee. Peterson has earned more than 80 individual architectural design awards throughout his career.
