Steven W. Semes Architect

Steven W. Semes is a licensed architect with over twenty-five years’ experience in all aspects of professional practice and a leader in the field of new traditional architecture.  A native of Coral Gables, Florida, Mr. Semes received his undergraduate education at the University of Virginia (Bachelor of Science in Architecture, 1975) and earned a graduate degree from Columbia University (Master of Architecture, 1980).

In 1999, he established his firm, Steven W. Semes, Architect, in New York City and East Hampton, N.Y, specializing in custom residential projects, mostly in eastern Long Island. The firm’s residential designs have attracted notice in the press, including a cover story for Better Homes and Gardens (July 2005), a feature article in Garden Living (March 2005) and mention in The New York Times.  The firm was a finalist in the 2005 LIBI Awards program of the Long Island Builder’s Institute.  In addition, the firm has undertaken nonresidential work, including the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (in collaboration with Alvin Holm, AIA), which appeared in the journal Sacred Architecture (Summer 2005).

 Prior to founding his own practice, Mr. Semes was an associate and project architect at leading architectural firms in New York and San Francisco, including Johnson/Burgee Architects, P.C. and Cooper, Robertson & Partners, LLP.  In these positions, Mr. Semes was responsible for projects in nearly every building type and in locations across the United States, including private residences, office and apartment interiors, churches, theaters, libraries, university buildings, office buildings, retail centers, historic preservation projects, and urban design.  He has been a licensed architect in New York since 1983.

In 2005 Mr. Semes was appointed to the Francis and Kathleen Rooney Chair in Architecture at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.  He has been a Fellow and faculty member of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America in New York since 1991.  He is the author of The Architecture of the Classical Interior (W. W. Norton & Co., 2004) and a co-editor of Georges Gromort’s The Elements of Classical Architecture (W. W. Norton & Co., 2001).  In addition, his articles have appeared in Traditional Building, Period Homes, and the American Arts Quarterly, among other publications.