PRACTICE
Originally from San Francisco and Carmel, Peter comes from a creative family of pioneering admen and active painters. He started sketching incessantly and making models at a young age, decades later, he still does. His father led a creative team that branded MasterCard and other major brands, including The Sea Ranch, on the north coast. The innovative, real estate development was recently honored at SF MOMA 50-years later, for its ecologically thoughtful, design concepts conceived by its now, highly distinguished design team: Lawrence Halprin; Joseph Eshrick; Charles Moore; and William Turnbull – architects who were among Peter’s first, design influences. Close family friend, Howard Meyers, “Uncle Howie” to his mother, started ARCHITECTURAL FORUM magazine [Time Life] which, though closed, is still regarded as the finest American publication of its sort. Peter followed it and HOUSE & GARDEN closely, at a young age. This family of dedicated painters follows in the footsteps of Peter’s mother, a painter whose best work explored the elusive threshold between figure and abstraction. They credit her with having taught them “how to see”.
Peter went to Thacher School, one of the first schools on the West Coast, where he was a School Chairman and top, cross-country runner in the Condor League. He ran 3-years at Princeton, under U.S. Olympic Track Coach Larry Ellis, where he graduated Magna cum Laude, having trained in architecture, architectural history, and urban design at Princeton’s School of Architecture with such celebrated architects as Rafael Moneo and Michael Graves. His Master’s Thesis design was published in the AIA Journal. The Design jury having cited the design as, “celebratory and ominous”, was later re-adopted, making it an influential design at the highest level of the profession.
Peter’s first completed building design was featured on the cover of ARCHITECTURAL RECORD magazine, launching that firm into the limelight, later securing design commissions for Bill Gates’ house & Apple Stores. His designs for two buildings in Pittsburgh won numerous state, national AIA, and international awards.
Peter established a practice in Nantucket, designing a range of residential and commercial projects within the restrictive, local, historical design guidelines. He was elected to a 3-year seat on the Nantucket Planning and Economic Development Commission where he proposed and helped initiate The Comp Plan, the island’s first master plan, a several year-long, “green-planning” initiative. Taking months off from his practice, he built by hand, with others, his own Studio-home [much to the amusement of his builder friends]. Living “on-island” year-round for nearly a decade, he was a regular among his international group of soccer chums.
Peter moved to New York City, where he worked with revered Modernist John M.Y. Lee - architect of the IBM building & atrium, at Madison and 57th Street, designing office towers for Sam and Richard Lefrak. He started his own practice, producing numerous projects for The Dalton School, and numerous projects for Fordham University [Matthews Moya Architects]. He designed Affirmation Arts, the first building project in the newly rezoned Hudson Yards District, which was featured in ARCHITECT magazine and LD+A for its innovative ‘daylighting’ design. Nature, as ivy trellis panels of steel, cable, plays a key role in the building’s diptych, façade composition.
Peter has taught periodically, and been an invited critic for several decades - graduate-level architecture design studios at Princeton and Carnegie Mellon Universities, and critic at CMU, NJIT, Parsons, and Yale Universities. He is an avid, used book collector.
Pencils by George Murphy, artist
CLIENT TESTIMONIALS
“As a landscape architect and frequent collaborator with architects on residential and institutional projects, Peter is among the architects who command our highest respect. His work is consistently imaginative, rigorous in terms of geometry and detail, committed to eco-sensitivity and thoughtfully connected to its site.
For each project—whether Nantucket beach house or an urban dwelling—the site and environment are closely studied to create an architecture that responds both formally, functionally and materially to the surroundings. Peter’s collaborative design approach has led to buildings and structures that are uniquely responsive to program and site. Each project employs materials endemic to the region in new and familiar forms, requiring exceptional work by the area’s builders and artisans. Peter’s strong emphasis on design, material, and craft is the foundation for all his work. If your objective is to create architecture which is both of distinctive high quality and informed by its unique setting, you’ll be pleased to have retained Peter Matthews as your architect.”
Client: Dan Solien, noted Cape & Boston-area, Landscape Architect
“Our experience with Peter Matthews, who we hired as our Architect to design a summer house, was excellent and the resulting house has met our every expectation. He was prompt in responding to us and in providing answers to our questions. We found him attentive to our wishes, sensitive and creative in the design and development of the drawings, and patient in explaining what he had done and why it was not possible to get our every requirement into the design.
Our initial meeting with him was to outline the rough square footage, the rooms we wanted, and a rough estimate of the budget we expected to work under. The next day he returned to us an allocation of the rough footage allocated to the various rooms we had outlined.
He met his deadlines for the delivery of drawings, schedules, budget changes. He developed an excellent work plan and schedule as well as a budget breakdown to match the schedule and the subcontractor phasing. His budget schedule and the ultimate expenses were in close agreement.”
We indicated that we wanted to retain the maximum amount of the native vegetation on our lot. He spent several weeks on the lot, walking the boundaries, tagging the trees and bushes, observing the neighbor’s house orientation, the various views of the wetlands and the harbor. We were very pleased by the sensitivity he had shown in meeting our various requirements and with the insight he had shown in the house placement and the views from various rooms. After several phone conferences, he gave us a preliminary sketch of the lot and house placement. We worked with him in refinements of the sketch. He then developed drawings of the house and a model, both of which we reviewed with him in his New York office.
He made what is always a trying experience of blending multiple wishes into a solid product almost a pleasure. As a result of our experience with Peter, I would unhesitatingly recommend him as an Architect.”
Client: Steve Meader, Ret. Army Colonel (Family: tech business owners /art collectors)
Peter remembers with great appreciation, Marion Meader, a remarkable client of broad vision.
“A number of years ago we purchased a lovely beach home on Nantucket with spectacular views. Over time we did do several modifications to accommodate our life-style and lots of company. Peter Matthews was our Architect for one of the trickiest of these and did a super job determining our needs and desires while working with limited footprint restrictions. In the process we became friends as well as clients, and fondly look back on our meetings working on the plans around the dining room table but also water skiing in the upper harbor. The project was enjoyable and very successful. We enjoyed living in the private suite he created over the garage where we could retreat with a house full of visitors when we needed to work or just have a private time. He asked great questions, listened carefully and translated this into an ideal living space that fully met our needs and desires, captured our amazing views of Nantucket Harbor from Brant Point Light to Great Point Light - yet blended the new addition into the original simple beach house. Peter used creativity while also being very practical and responsive to several desires that seemed impossible with the space available. I would encourage anyone reading this to consider working with him. It was truly a wonderful experience. It certainly enhanced and accommodated our lifestyle and sharing with our friends and family.”
Clients: Dr. Barb Keller, who, with partner Jean Burgdorff, built a billion-dollar, Real estate business
“Peter designed my house on a challenging small and sloping lot located in Town on Nantucket Island. He has the ability to work with local permitting boards, not always an easy task, especially in a historic community with stringent guidelines. He has a good sense of how to site a structure to maximize the benefits of the lot as well as the ability to evaluate and engage, light and proportion. The design has held up well over the years and people often remark that it is the "biggest little house" they have ever seen.
Client: Penny Dey, prominent, island Real Estate Broker
“I hired Architect Peter Matthews to design my house on Nantucket, MA. I was attracted to the simplicity and Modernity of the plan, in particular the cathedral ceiling in the large Living Room. The light is very special – with the southern exposure turned about 20 degrees to the West. It offers enough sun, due to the siting relative to many high, special trees which give privacy and enough shading during the hot period of the year.
The flair of the house and garden, which is next to the wetland with a wonderful West view and spectacular sunsets, a dinner at the large deck gives you a feeling like you are alone, no noise, no cars but the dream view over the wide expanse of wetland and the magical feeling of solitude - a surprising sense of natural seclusion, despite being at the edge of Town. The two exposures of the floor plan with the special graded garden enable a lower-level apartment to have its own private deck exposure.
Whoever comes to the house – friends, and clients, for an Art opening or Salon gathering – are amazed and surprised by the setting, the view, and the beauty of the graded garden. Realtors are impressed by the design of the house and garden, think it gives the sense of a much larger place. Everybody is touched, smiles, and feeling peace and beauty… and hard to find a more romantic and intimate setting. I thank Peter for this practical and beautiful, Modern house design for its joy of easy living.”
Client: Doerte Neudert, Gallery owner and Salon host