Who

Pennoyer is the tradition-minded architect who runs the architecture studio Peter Pennoyer Architects.

Backstory

Pennoyer grew up on the Upper East Side and studied at Columbia before taking a job working for architecture doyen Robert A.M. Stern. He left Stern's firm in the mid-1980s, co-founding the architecture practice Moore Pennoyer Turino with two partners, then went solo in 1992 with Peter Pennoyer Architects. Best known for designs that tend toward the classical and conservative, his old-school clients have included Laurence Rockefeller Jr., Peter Rockefeller, author Louis Auchincloss, and art dealer Anthony Blumka. Pennoyer also undertook a restoration of the Mark Hotel in New York and the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong.

In print

Like his ex-mentor Robert A.M. Stern, Pennoyer is an architectural history buff. With his second-in-command, Anne Walker, he's penned two books about famous New York architect tag teams: Warren and Wetmore and The Architecture of Delano & Aldrich. He's currently writing a book on the downfall of American architecture, bleakly entitled From Monticello to McMansion.

Personal

Pennoyer is married to Kate Ridder, an interior designer with whom he sometimes collaborates on commissions. They live in a restored four-bedroom Colonial in Bronxville, where Pennoyer keeps his collection of rare architectural sketches and books. They also have a 12-acre retreat in Columbia County where Pennoyer keeps his 1965 Morris Minor convertible.