There’s No Place Like Home

– By Robin Jovanovich –

Last month, architect Paul Shainberg moved his office from West Putnam Avenue in Greenwich to downtown Rye. “I love being smack in the middle of the town I live in.

I run into clients, contractors and friends,” he said enthusiastically. And when one of his young sons is part of a school production or playing in a game, he can be there in a matter of minutes. “I wanted to be closer to home.”

Shainberg, a graduate of Yale School of Architecture, says what he’s best at is renovating older homes. He lives in one, a 1920s Colonial on Midland Avenue that he and his wife Robin bought 11 years ago and have remodeled three times. “It was going to be our starter house!” Over the years the home has grown with the family from 1,250 to 2,200 square feet.

The three-member firm of Paul Shainberg Architects, LLC, designs as a team, and when they’re asked to do a project they design the whole house.

Making a house work for a family is his mission. “I learn how my clients live and end up getting close to them. “I know I’ve done a good job when the family invites me over for a backyard barbecue when the project’s finished.”

In the current economy, Shainberg says people are prioritizing. “They have a master plan, but they’re more likely to be doing it in phases.” He notes that the kitchens they’re designing are not as large as a few years ago, “but everyone wants a mudroom and a common computer area.”

While never a proponent of “big is better”, Shainberg says his dream house is a Shingle-style farmhouse. “In residential design, it’s important that rooms are articulated but flow and tie together nicely.”

Traces of Shainberg’s Memphis boyhood linger in his easy manner of speech and demonstrative politeness. “I sometimes think I get hired because I’m responsive and call people back.”

Paul Shainberg Architects, LLC is located at 43 Purchase Street, 2nd floor. The telephone number is 967-3474.