Robert... his past:

...from the age of five, every summer subjected to road trips back and forth from the metropolis of Chicago, his birth city, to the sprawling and quaintly eccentric Albuquerque, the city he grew up in, imagined himself the ultimate explorer and anthropologist. Studying roadmaps as he passed through each state, sleeping in strange hotel rooms, eating in bizarre restaurants, all the while hearing alien accents and inflections (sometimes in English) made him keenly aware of the uniqueness of place and time. Witnessing generations of family, obscured in dated attire, emanating queer eccentricities and inhabiting creepy houses full of eerie attics with pull-string lights, damp basements with shelves too high to reach, with stacks of decrepit relics and other Underdark collections of forgotten eras, was both astounding and mesmerizing for this wide-eyed, curious kid. He would learn to harken back to these formative experiences as something known none other than “nostalgia”.

...after a year’s stint at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, he joined the Architecture program at the University of New Mexico, gobbling up practical design and construction knowledge while feeding his passion for history and mythology by minoring in Medieval Studies. While interning full-time, he attended the University of Colorado at Denver to pursue a Masters of Architecture and achieved a Certificate in Historic Preservation, graduating with honors and second in his class.

...trekking to the Northwest caused him to fall in love with the city of Seattle, and then his wife, Krishane. They were married on the historic steamship Virginia V by its captain and entertained a cadre of guests in vintage Art Deco fashion. The two moved to the Kitsap Penninsula, where they now call Bremerton home with (for now) two peculiar parakeets named Drumstick and Tiny.

Robert... his present:

...loving the temperate west coast and its easy access to Olympic National Park for camping and hiking, consuming delicious seafood and local ciders, and endlessly restoring the 1945 red brick English Tudor dwelling he and Krishane call home (affectionately dubbed “King Henry” for those in the know).

...carving out a niche in the architecture world, Historic Design comes about from a desire to prioritize restoration of the built environment and the curation of vintage character while incorporating modern sensibilities. Older homes carry an intrinsic value, sometimes with qualities that far outlast newer materials and construction techniques. Recreating the character, detail, and built-to-last mediums of the past can be (cost-wise) out of reach in brand-new construction, much of the time because generational craftmanship is simply no longer available. Tradesmen retire or are usurped by faster/cheaper/simpler technological advances (think drywall boards versus hand-applied lath and plaster). Knowing what is possible to restore while on a budget is paramount to a successful project, and the aim is to do it right or not do it at all.