Robert A.M. Stern at Home

If our homes are the manifestations of our self-portrait, what can we learn about famed architect Robert A.M. Stern’s 1,700-square-foot apartment in the Chatham condominium on Upper East Side’s, which recently hit the market?

Stern, the architect who became synonymous with the affluent architecture of New York City and that of the seaside villages of the Hamptons, passed away on Thanksgiving. He rose from humble beginnings in provincial postwar Brooklyn to the top of the profession with a powerful firm of hundreds which he founded nearly six decades ago.

Stern’s prestigious limestone-clad towers were shaped by his passion for the landmark apartment houses of New York City, built during the golden age of skyscrapers in the 1920s. His high-end coastal homes were also born from his love for history. Here he revived the Shingle Style, a vernacular American architecture developed in New England during the late 19th century, which he turned into the most popular architectural style of the casual-elegant homes on the East Coast. He transformed both into the most prosperous real estate formula in recent memory.

Stern was a cultural figure who reminded New Yorkers that their heritage is glamour, and that what they really like is traditional. His 18-year tenure as the Dean at Yale School of Architecture revived the school’s prominence.

To remember Robert A.M. Stern is to illuminate his contribution to the story of architecture, I have invited renowned architecture critic and recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, Paul Goldberger. His tribute to Stern published in the New York Times shortly after his death is titled The Architect Who Designed New York City Like a 1930s Movie. Stay tuned.