Based in Palm Beach and New York, Fairfax & Sammons Architects is an internationally recognized firm of classical architects specializing in residential architectural design and urban design.
Partners in business as well as in marriage, Anne Fairfax and Richard Sammons are the founding partners of the firm, which today comprises fifteen members. They are both members of the INTBAU College of Traditional Practitioners (ICTP), an international professional body for practitioners in traditional architecture, under the auspices of his Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales.
Anne and Richard led a conversation about their design philosophy and how the considerations of place, climate, history, building materials and precedents of building culture inform their design process.
They are the recipients of numerous awards and their work has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, Country Life, Architectural Digest, Southern Accents, Old House Journal, Period Homes, Traditional Building and New Old House. Their monograph, American Houses: The Architecture of Fairfax & Sammons, is published by Rizzoli International.
Anne Fairfax has designed many new buildings in traditional styles and restored numerous historic houses in diverse locations such as New York, Barbados, Virginia and Honolulu, the city where she spent her childhood and maintained an architectural practice before moving to New York in 1991.
Anne Fairfax, AIA, RIBA is a founding director of both the Palm Beach office of Fairfax, Sammons & Partners LLC, and the New York office of Fairfax & Sammons Architects Inc. PC. Currently residing in Palm Beach, she serves as a commissioner of the Landmarks Preservation Commission of the Town of Palm Beach.
Richard Sammons has a rich background in traditional period design and is an internationally recognized expert in the field of architectural proportion, having taught at The Prince of Wales’ Institute of Architecture in London, Pratt Institute in New York and The University of Notre Dame in Rome.
His contributions include the foreword of the book “The Theory of Mouldings” by C. Howard Walker and collaboration on the recently published book “Get Your House Right.” Richard began his career in Venice, Italy, with the offices of Antonio Foscari and then with David Anthony Easton in New York. He is a founding director of The Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America, a board member of the Sir John Soane Museum Foundation and the Merchant’s House Museum. Richard serves as Design Director of the firm.