Michael Middleton Dwyer

Michael Dwyer is an American architect and author of books about architecture, including ''Great Houses of the Hudson River'' (2001) and ''Carolands'' (2006).

Buttrick White & Burtis

Michael Dwyer was associated from 1981 to 1995 with the New York architecture firm Buttrick White & Burtis, where he helped design several noteworthy buildings. among them the Saint Thomas Choir School, a fifteen-story boarding school in Midtown Manhattan, completed in 1987. Writing in ''The New York Times'', architecture critic Paul Goldberger placed the school "among the city's best examples of contextual architecture."

Another project, the Dana Discovery Center, a venue for environmental education, was the centerpiece of the Central Park Conservancy's 1990–93 reconstruction of Harlem Meer, an eleven-acre lake in Central Park's northeast corner. In a 1993 interview with the journal ''Progressive Architecture'', Dwyer said that the building's "picturesque character" was intended to reinforce the park's "romantic landscape design."

In his book ''The Architecture of Additions'' (1998), architect Paul Byard wrote that the Dana Center "is sized to be not too big for its adopted idiom but at the same time an effective presence and marker for one of the defining corners of the park." To Byard, the building's use of the "spiky polychrome architecture of the arliestpark buildings, with porches, porticos, a steeply pitched and pinnacled tile roof, and rich, multi-colored ornamentation" served to connect, architecturally speaking, the northernmost end of the park, largely devoid of buildings, to the more developed southern part.

Classical controversy

During his time at Buttrick White &
Burtis, Dwyer was an advocate for New York's prewar, classical style of architecture and a protagonist of its resuscitation. In a 1995 review of architecture's nascent classical revival by ''The New York Times'', reporter Patricia Leigh Brown wrote that, "Michael Dwyer...an architect at Buttrick White & Burtis...has recently completed a classical-style yacht" and a "town house on the Upper East Side," a house characterized by Robert A.M. Stern, dean of Yale's School of Architecture, as "scholarly...reflecting the elegant manner of Ange-Jacques Gabriel." The house is at 14 East 81st Street.

Interviewed by Brown for the article, dean Stern opined that the young classicists were "perhaps the true radicals of their time," whereas architect James Stewart Polshek, formerly dean of Columbia University's School of Architecture called them "bizarrely backward" and "lacking new ideas." Asked to weigh in, Yale historian Vincent Scully declared that "classicism speaks fundamentally to what people want, to security and dignity and permanence."

Dwyer & Sae-Eng

Meatpacking District pioneers

In 1996, Dwyer and interior designer Ungkun Sae-Eng formed Dwyer & Sae-Eng, an architecture and design firm, after which they repurposed a derelict auto-repair garage on Gansevoort Street in Manhattan's Meatpacking District, a newly formed historic district in the northwest corner of Greenwich Village. The renovated space did double-duty as a studio for Dwyer's architecture practice, and a venue for Establishment, Sae-Eng's showcase for Southeast Asian art and antiques.

Eleanor Roosevelt Monument

In 1996, Dwyer was the architect for the Eleanor Roosevelt Monument in New York's Riverside Park, where he supplemented landscape architect Kelly and Varnell's circular oak bosque and Penelope Jencks' bronze statue and granite boulders with granite medallions set into the surrounding bluestone paving (one inscribed with a quotation from a 1958 speech of Roosevelt's; the other with a quotation from Adlai Stevenson's 1962 eulogy for her). At the monument's dedication on October 5, 1996, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered the keynote address.

George F. Baker Jr. House (75 East 93rd Street)

In 1997, Dwyer restored the exterior of the George F. Baker Jr. House, built in 1918 at 75 East 93rd Street and designated a landmark by the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1969. The commission called the house "an outstanding example of a modified Federal style...one of the finest works in New York City by the architects, Delano and Aldrich."

Cosmopolitan Club (122 East 66th Street)

From 1998 to 2007, Dwyer was the consulting architect to New York's Cosmopolitan Club, a private social club for women, helping to restore its clubhouse, designed by architect Thomas Harlan Ellett and awarded the Architectural League's 1933 gold medal.

During his tenure at the club Dwyer restored the Entrance Hall and staircase; the Assembly Room; the Lounge; and the penthouse Garden Room.

Residential projects

On a parallel track, Dwyer prepared designs for the upper strata of New York's private sector, including apartments on Manhattan's east side ( 960 Fifth Avenue, 720 Park Avenue, and River House); its west side (The Dakota, The Majestic, and The San Remo); and houses in diverse locations such as Bridgehampton, East Hampton,
Southampton, Rye, Greenwich, and Nantucket.

George F. Baker Jr. carriage house (69 East 93rd Street)

In 1996, the financier, preservationist, and author Dick Jenrette engaged Dwyer to design a major alteration to his Carnegie Hill townhouse at 69 East 93rd Street, which he described in his memoir, ''Adventures with Old Houses'':

For the next seven years (1989–1996), I lived quite happily at No. 69 East 93rd Street...I liked the light and the height of the ceilings, but the house lacked a grand ceremonial entrance staircase as I had enjoyed next door at No. 67 East 93rd Street...I even went so far as to commission Michael Dwyer, my favorite young neo-classical architect in Manhattan, to design a new interior layout. His plan 'borrowed' half the six-car garage on the first floor and would have created an elegant entrance hall and elliptical staircase ascending to the ''piano nobile''.

Jenrette abandoned his plan to renovate No. 69 when he bought the house next door for a second time and returned to 67 East 93rd Street.

Edgewater on the Hudson

In 1997, Jenrette engaged Dwyer to design a pair of classical pavilions at Edgewater, Jenrette's villa on the Hudson River. Jenrette described them in his memoir:

In recent years, I've begun making more of my own architectural imprint on the Edgewater property. This past year I added a small neo-classical guest house, built on a point of land across the lagoon to the north of Edgewater—far enough away not to compete with the main house. Designed by Michael Dwyer of New York, the guest house is a small Grecian temple with four columns of the Doric order framing a large porch looking downriver. Viewed from the front porch of Edgewater across the lagoon, the new structure serves as an architectural folly extending the sweep of the landscape to the north.

Michael Dwyer also relocated the swimming pool and added a charming pool house, again in classical style with four Doric columns along the side of the pool. The effect is quite Roman—rather like a small corner of Hadrian's Villa. From guest house to pool house and back to the main house provides a scenic one-mile roundabout walk, mostly along the winding riverbank.

Hollyhock

The July 2018 issue of
''Architectural Digest'' featured Hollyhock, a new house with extensive gardens in Southampton, New York designed by Dwyer for real estate executive Mary Ann Tighe, a decade long collaboration with interior designer Bunny Williams reminiscent of the prewar houses of architect David Adler and interior designer Frances Elkins.

In Dwyer's plan for Hollyhock's main wing, an entrance hall leads to an enfilade of three high-studded, south-facing rooms: a dining room designed by Dwyer and embellished by Williams with 18th-century wall paper inset into panels; a living room with boiserie designed by Dwyer, painted a "rich watery blue" by Williams; and a 55-foot-long library, with cabinets and paneling made with old-growth pine, divided into three spaces by projecting bookcases designed by Dwyer in the tradition of David Adler's Wheeler House library (1934); Bigelow & Wadsworth's reading room at the Boston's Atheneum (1914); Charles Follen McKim's University Club library (1904); and Christopher Wren's library at Trinity College (1695).

The principal feature of the entrance hall is Dwyer's design for an elliptical staircase, inspired by a design of Adler's that was inspired by a design of John Russell Pope's, to which Dwyer added a black and white starburst marble floor.Dan Shaw."Top Tier Design Team Breathes Elegance into a Southampton Estate," Architectural Digest (July 2018).

In Hollyhock's gardens, designed by landscape architect Quincy Hammond in the ''grande manière'', Dwyer built a guest house (a kind of modern-day Petit Trianon); a garden pavilion in the form of an orangery; an arbor with limestone columns supporting teak lattice panels; and a garage building in the guise of a caretaker's cottage.
Link to photographs of Hollyhock's landscape.

Hollyhock's tile roofs and stucco facades allude to Red Maples, a house designed by the architects Hiss and Weekes, with gardens designed by Ferruccio Vitale, that stood on the site from 1913 until its demolition in 1947.Dan Shaw."Top Tier Design Team Breathes Elegance into a Southampton Estate," Architectural Digest (July 2018).

Critiques

In its 2025 review of Michael Dwyer's work, the editors of ''The Franklin Report'' wrote, "Dwyer has a strong command of historical reference and is adept at renovating prewar building interiors. Sources praise Dwyer's impressive intellect and charming nature while noting that the firm's 'confidence in its skills' may come across as rigid to unsuspecting clients."

In 2015, the Institute of Traditional Architecture ranked Dwyer No.22 on its list of the world's top 50 architects working in the traditional idiom.

Gallery

Edgewater Guesthouse Michael Middleton Dwyer.jpg, Venetian window at the Edgewater Garden Pavilion.
Michael Dwyer-Edgewater Poolhouse.jpg, Pool Pavilion at Edgewater
MMDA-Photos - 2006-05-06 - Lake Agawam -1.jpg, Longview, on Lake Agawam in Southampton, New York.
MMDA-Photos_-_2006-05-06_-_Fanlight_with_light.jpg, Detail of entrance door at Longview.
MMDA-Photos_-_2008-09-27_-_Staircase_Detail_-3.jpg, Detail of staircase at Longview.
MMDA-Photos - 2012-04-14 - Stone Cottage.jpg, Stone cottage in Southampton, New York.
MMDwyer Architect - LongIslandHouse.jpg, Classical house in East Hampton, New York.
MMDA-Photos - 2013-08-15 - North Facade.jpg, The entrance court at Hollyhock in Southampton, New York.
MMDA-Photos_-_2013-07-11_-_Entrance_porch.jpg, The portico at the entrance to Hollyhock.
MMDA-Photos - 2013-04-09 - Garden Gate and Guest House.jpg, Garden gate and guest house at Hollyhock, Southampton, New York.

Project List

*35 Meter Cruising Yacht (interior architecture; completed 1994).
*Nureyev Apartment; The Dakota, New York City (interior architecture; completed 1995).
* Eleanor Roosevelt Monument, Riverside Park, New York City (granite medallions and bronze plaques; completed 1996).
*Windsong; Shimmo Beach, Nantucket, MA (new house; completed 1996).
* George F. Baker Jr. House, 75 E 93rd St, New York City (roof replacement and window restoration; completed 1997).
* Edgewater, Barrytown, NY (Garden Pavilion and Pool House; completed 1997).
*Maisonette duplex, 960 Fifth Avenue, New York City (interior architecture; completed 1999).
*Longview; 27 Gin Lane, Southampton, NY (new garden facade, new wing with indoor pool, and interior architecture throughout; completed 2000).
*Mead Point; Indian Field Road, Greenwich, CT (new house; completed 2001).
*River House Apartment (apartment alterations; completed 2003).
*Stone Cottage; Toylsome Place, Southampton, NY (new house and interior architecture; completed 2004).
*720 Park Avenue, New York City (apartment alterations; completed 2006).
* Cosmopolitan Club, New York City (alterations to the entrance hall, ballroom, and garden penthouse, from 1998 to 2007).
*New Sommariva; East Hampton, NY (new house; completed 2009).
*Hollyhock; Southampton, NY (new residence, guest house, garden pavilion, and arbor; completed 2017).
*Triplex penthouse; The San Remo, New York City (alterations completed 2017).Kathryn Brenzel, "Inside the World of Luxury Renovations," ''The Real Deal'' (February 16, 2016).

Bibliography

Publications (as contributor)

* Carl A. Pearson (author); Michael Dwyer (illustrator). "Up in Central Park on the Shore of Harlem Meer," ''Architectural Record'' (March 1990).
* Mark Alden Branch (author); Michael Dwyer (illustrator). "Flirting with Folly in Central Park," ''Progressive Architecture'' (August 1991): 23.
* Michael Dwyer (contributing illustrator). "Proposed Addition to the Harvard Club of New York," ''Architecture in Perspective No. 7'' (American Society of Architectural Illustrators, 1992): 29.
* Richard Economakis (editor), Michael Dwyer (contributor). "Proposed Addition to the Harvard Club of New York" and "Classical Townhouse in the Metropolitan Museum Historic District," ''Building Classical: A Vision of Europe and America'' (London: Academy Editions, 1993): 227.
* Michael Dwyer (contributing illustrator). "A View of the Dana Discovery Center, Central Park, New York," ''Architecture in Perspective No. 8'' (American Society of Architectural Illustrators, 1994): 10.
* Michael Dwyer (author). "Buildings in Public Parks," ''Clem Labine's Traditional Building'' (March/April 1995): 26, 28, 30. .
* Gabriele Tagliaventi (editor), Michael Dwyer (contributor) ''A Vision of Europe: Urban Renaissance'' (Grafis, 1996): 212, 215.
* Michael Dwyer (contributing illustrator). "New Master Plan - Trinity School," ''Architecture in Perspective No. 11'' (American Society of Architectural Illustrators, 1996): 83.
* Michael Dwyer (author). "Building with Stone," ''Clem Labine's Traditional Building'' (March/April 1996): 25–26. .
* Michael Dwyer (author). "The Arts and Crafts in Architecture Today," ''Classicist No. 3'' (1996–97): 90–96. .
* Michael Dwyer (editor) with a preface by Mark F. Rockefeller. ''Great Houses of the Hudson River'' (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, in association with Historic Hudson Valley, 2001).
* Michael Dwyer (author) with a foreword by Mario Buatta. ''Carolands'' (Redwood City, CA: San Mateo County Historical Association, 2006).

Publications (as subject)

* Clem Labine. "A Townhouse in the Corinthian Order," ''Clem Labine's Traditional Building'' (September/October 1991): 48, 49. .
* Philip Arcidi. "Learning by the Rules," ''Progressive Architecture'' (December 1993).
* Lee Goff. "Manhattan Townhouse," ''Stone Built'' (New York: The Monacelli Press, 1997): 40. .
* Richard H. Jenrette. ''Adventures with Old Houses'' (Charleston: Wyrick, 2000): 8, 105, 161. .
* Diane DiPiero (author), John Hall (photographer). "In Grand Tradition," ''Classic American Home'' (April/May 2001).
* Elizabeth Pochoda (author), Pieter Estersohn (photographer). "The Long View," ''House & Garden'' (August 2001): 76-82.
* Editors of ''The Classicist'', with an introduction by Robert A.M. Stern. ''A Decade of Art & Architecture 1992–2002'' (New York: Institute of Classical Architecture, 2002).
* Thomas Gordon Smith. ''Vitruvius on Architecture'' (New York: The Monacelli Press, 2003): 50.
* Robert A.M. Stern et al. ''New York 2000: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Bicentennial and the Millennium'' (New York: The Monacelli Press, 2006): 788, 933. .
* Laura Beach (author), J. David Bohl (photographer). "Sojourn On The Sound," ''Antiques & Fine Art'' (Summer 2006): 92-103.
* Jean Phifer. ''Public Art New York'' (New York: W.W. Norton, 2009): 148.
* Dan Shaw. "Top Tier Design Team Breathes Elegance into a Southampton Estate," ''Architectural Digest'' (July 2018).
* Bunny Williams. "Hollyhock," ''Love Affairs with Houses'' (New York: Abrams, 2019):13-35. .

See also

* Francis F. Palmer House (75 East 93rd Street, New York City)
* George F. Baker Jr. House (69 East 93rd Street, New York City)
* Edgewater (Barrytown, New York)

References

External links

Michael Dwyer on InstagramInstitute of Traditional Architecture 2015 Rankings.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dwyer, Michael
Living people
1954 births
Columbia College (New York) alumni
University of Pennsylvania School of Design alumni
20th-century American architects
21st-century American architects
New Classical architects
Preservationist architects
American neoclassical architects
Architects from New York City
Architecture firms based in New York City
20th-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
American male non-fiction writers
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers
Writers from Manhattan
American architectural historians
Historians from New York (state)