Richard Sammons


Richard Sammons is an architect, architectural theorist, visiting professor, and chief designer of Fairfax & Sammons Architects with offices in New York City, New York and Palm Beach, Florida. The firm has an international practice specializing in classical and traditional architecture, interior design and urban planning. Sammons was instrumental in the reemergence of classical design as a major movement in America through his designs as well as his work as an instructor at the Prince of Wales Institute in Britain in 1992-3 and as a founding member of the Institute of Classical Architecture in 1991. From 1996 to 2004, the Fairfax & Sammons office also served as the headquarters for the noted American architecture critic Henry Hope Reed Jr. and Classical America, the organization he founded in 1968. In 2013, Fairfax & Sammons received the Arthur Ross Award for Lifetime Achievement in Architecture, an award created to recognize and celebrate excellence in the classical tradition.

Early life and education

Sammons was born in Columbus, Ohio and received his bachelor's degree from Denison University in Granville, Ohio in 1983. His duel interests in Physics and Art, and his undergraduate degree in Studio Art, presaged the later intense focus upon proportion that became a significant hallmark of his design work. He received his Master of Architecture degree at the University of Virginia in 1986. His interest in classical design found support in this period of university education due to the leadership of Dean Jaquelin T. Robertson whose own work and background made him sympathetic to classicism. Sammons also developed a breadth of knowledge through his work as a teaching assistant to the internationally recognized architectural historian and Jefferson scholar, Dr. Frederick Doveton Nichols. Because the faculty of the University of Virginia School of Architecture focused primarily on modernism, Sammons looked to Thomas Jefferson as one of his principal instructors.

Career

Sammons served his internship in the Manhattan office of David Anthony Easton, a classicist specializing in residential design. At Easton’s office, Sammons learned detailing from Joe Marino, an architect who acquired his practical training in the Manhattan firms of Cross and Cross, and later Egerton Swartwout and Philip Goodwin. In 1992 Sammons established the firm of Richard Sammons Architect in New York City, New York. In 1997 Sammons and his wife Anne Fairfax renamed the firm . The firm has a second office in Palm Beach, Florida opened in 1998. Sammons is a registered architect in New York, Virginia, Connecticut, Ohio, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
In addition to architectural practice, Sammons has taught classes at the University of Notre Dame in Rome ; the Georgia Institute of Technology as the Harrison Design Associates Visiting Scholar ; as an instructor, The Prince of Wales Institute of Architecture London, England and the American Summer School ; and Adjunct Professor of Architecture, Pratt Institute School of Architecture. Sammons also served as Associate Director, The Institute of Classical Architecture and The New York Academy of Art from 1993 to 1996.
Sammons was a founder of The Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America. He has served as a board member of ; ; The Historic House Trust of New York City; The Sir John Soane's Museum Foundation; , New York and he is a Guild Member of , a member of the College of Traditional Practitioners and a Brother of in London.

Geometric proportioning in practice: examples from the work of Fairfax and Sammons

Awards

YearAwardAwarded byCategory
2020Palladio AwardTraditional Building and Period HomesRestoration and Renovation
2019Stanford White AwardThe Institute of Classical Architecture and ArtResidential Architecture - New Construction Over 5,000 SF
2019Addison Mizner MedalThe Institute of Classical Architecture and Art FloridaRenovation/Addition
2019Addison Mizner MedalThe Institute of Classical Architecture and Art FloridaRenovation/Addition
2018Polly Earl AwardPalm Beach Preservation FoundationExcellence in the rehabilitation of smaller scale, landmarked properties
2018Stanford White AwardThe Institute of Classical Architecture and ArtResidential Architecture – Renovations & Additions
2018Addison Mizner MedalThe Institute of Classical Architecture and Art FloridaRenovation/Addition
2018The Richard H. Driehaus Building Arts AwardDriehaus International CompetitionHonorable mention for Urban Design
2018Palladio AwardTraditional Building and Period HomesResidential Multi-Unit
2017Stanford White AwardThe Institute of Classical Architecture and ArtResidential Architecture – New Construction Under 5,000 SF
2017The Richard H. Driehaus Building Arts AwardDriehaus International CompetitionHonorable mention for Urban Design
2017Palladio AwardTraditional Building and Period HomesNew Design & Construction, more than 5,000 SF
2017Addison Mizner MedalThe Institute of Classical Architecture and Art FloridaInterior Architecture
2016Palladio AwardTraditional Building and Period HomesNew Design & Construction, less than 5,000 SF
2016Addison Mizner MedalThe Institute of Classical Architecture and Art FloridaResidential
2015Addison Mizner MedalThe Institute of Classical Architecture and Art FloridaArchitecture Interiors
2015Stanford White AwardThe Institute of Classical Architecture and ArtMulti-family
2013The Arthur Ross Award, for Lifetime Achievement in ArchitectureThe Institute of Classical Architecture and ArtExcellence in preserving and advancing the Classical tradition
2010Philip Trammell Shutze AwardThe Institute of Classical Architecture and ArtResidential Over 10,000 SF
2010Philip Trammell Shutze AwardThe Institute of Classical Architecture and ArtUrban Design
2010CNU Charter AwardCongress for the New UrbanismBlock, Street, and Building

Projects

Richard Sammons' projects include the following:

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