Richard Sammons (born May 18, 1961, in Columbus, Ohio) is an architect, architectural theorist, visiting professor, and chief designer of Fairfax & Sammons Architects with offices in New York City, New York and Palm Beach, Florida. The firm has an international practice specializing in classical and traditional architecture, interior design and urban planning. Sammons was instrumental in the reemergence of classical design as a major movement in America through his designs as well as his work as an instructor at the Prince of Wales Institute in Britain in 1992-3 and as a founding member of the Institute of Classical Architecture in 1991. From 1996 to 2004, the Fairfax & Sammons office also served as the headquarters for the noted American architecture critic Henry Hope Reed Jr. (1915) and Classical America, the organization he founded in 1968. In 2013, Fairfax & Sammons received the Arthur Ross Award for Lifetime Achievement in Architecture, an award created to recognize and celebrate excellence in the classical tradition.[1]
Sammons was born in Columbus, Ohio and received his bachelor's degree from Denison University in Granville, Ohio in 1983. His duel interests in Physics and Art, and his undergraduate degree in Studio Art, presaged the later intense focus upon proportion that became a significant hallmark of his design work. He received his Master of Architecture degree at the University of Virginia in 1986. His interest in classical design found support in this period of university education due to the leadership of Dean Jaquelin T. Robertson whose own work and background made him sympathetic to classicism. Sammons also developed a breadth of knowledge through his work as a teaching assistant to the internationally recognized architectural historian and Jefferson scholar, Dr. Frederick Doveton Nichols (1911-1995). Because the faculty of the University of Virginia School of Architecture focused primarily on modernism, Sammons looked to Thomas Jefferson as one of his principal instructors.
Sammons served his internship in the Manhattan office of David Anthony Easton, a classicist specializing in residential design. At Easton's office, Sammons learned detailing from Joe Marino, an architect who acquired his practical training in the Manhattan firms of Cross and Cross,[2] and later Egerton Swartwout and Philip Goodwin. In 1992 Sammons established the firm of Richard Sammons Architect in New York City, New York. In 1997 Sammons and his wife Anne Fairfax renamed the firm Fairfax & Sammons Architects, PC. The firm has a second office in Palm Beach, Florida opened in 1998. Sammons is a registered architect in New York, Virginia, Connecticut, Ohio, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
In addition to architectural practice, Sammons has taught classes (on architectural design and proportion) at the University of Notre Dame in Rome (Fall 2008); the Georgia Institute of Technology as the Harrison Design Associates Visiting Scholar (Fall 2005); as an instructor, The Prince of Wales Institute of Architecture London, England and the American Summer School (1993 – 1996); and Adjunct Professor of Architecture, Pratt Institute School of Architecture (1987 – 1996). Sammons also served as Associate Director, The Institute of Classical Architecture and The New York Academy of Art from 1993 to 1996.
Sammons was a founder of The Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America. He has served as a board member of The Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America; The Royal Oak Foundation; The Historic House Trust of New York City; The Sir John Soane's Museum Foundation; The Merchants House Museum, New York and he is a Guild Member of The New Urban Guild, a member of the INTBAU College of Traditional Practitioners (ICTP) and a Brother of The Art Workers Guild in London.
| Year | Award | Awarded by | Category |
| 2020 | Palladio Award | Traditional Building and Period Homes[3] | Restoration and Renovation |
| 2019 | Stanford White Award | The Institute of Classical Architecture and Art[4] | Residential Architecture - New Construction Over 5,000 SF |
| 2019 | Addison Mizner Medal | The Institute of Classical Architecture and Art Florida[5] | Renovation/Addition |
| 2019 | Addison Mizner Medal | The Institute of Classical Architecture and Art Florida[6] | Renovation/Addition |
| 2018 | Polly Earl Award | Palm Beach Preservation Foundation[7] | Excellence in the rehabilitation of smaller scale, landmarked properties |
| 2018 | Stanford White Award | The Institute of Classical Architecture and Art[8] | Residential Architecture – Renovations & Additions |
| 2018 | Addison Mizner Medal | The Institute of Classical Architecture and Art Florida[9] | Renovation/Addition |
| 2018 | The Richard H. Driehaus Building Arts Award | Driehaus International Competition [10] | Honorable mention for Urban Design |
| 2018 | Palladio Award | Traditional Building and Period Homes[11] | Residential Multi-Unit |
| 2017 | Stanford White Award | The Institute of Classical Architecture and Art[12] | Residential Architecture – New Construction Under 5,000 SF |
| 2017 | The Richard H. Driehaus Building Arts Award | Driehaus International Competition [13] | Honorable mention for Urban Design |
| 2017 | Palladio Award | Traditional Building and Period Homes[14] | New Design & Construction, more than 5,000 SF |
| 2017 | Addison Mizner Medal | The Institute of Classical Architecture and Art Florida[15] | Interior Architecture |
| 2016 | Palladio Award | Traditional Building and Period Homes[16] | New Design & Construction, less than 5,000 SF |
| 2016 | Addison Mizner Medal | The Institute of Classical Architecture and Art Florida[17] | Residential |
| 2015 | Addison Mizner Medal | The Institute of Classical Architecture and Art Florida[18] | Architecture Interiors |
| 2015 | Stanford White Award | The Institute of Classical Architecture and Art[19] | Multi-family |
| 2013 | The Arthur Ross Award, for Lifetime Achievement in Architecture | The Institute of Classical Architecture and Art[20] | Excellence in preserving and advancing the Classical tradition |
| 2010 | Philip Trammell Shutze Award | The Institute of Classical Architecture and Art[21] | Residential Over 10,000 SF |
| 2010 | Philip Trammell Shutze Award | The Institute of Classical Architecture and Art[22] | Urban Design |
| 2010 | CNU Charter Award | Congress for the New Urbanism[23] | Block, Street, and Building |
Richard Sammons' projects include the following:
(For images and a description of each project refer to the firm's website: https://fairfaxandsammons.com/portfolio/)
