OUR TEAM

MADISON SPENCER, AIA

Madison Spencer, architect and planner, began his career writing the guidelines for the redevelopment of the Miller Park District in historic Chattanooga and assisting in the design of a new Quad at Princeton under the direction of Boston architect, Fred Koetter. In 1986 he joined Eisenman Robertson Architects in New York. Spencer guided and assisted on several residential designs as well as directed two large scale international urban planning efforts, one for Jaque Robertson and the other for Peter Eisenman in what one might describe as perhaps the most uniquely bifurcated architectural office in the world at that time. Spencer ultimately formed his own office, initially in partnership and then leading his own shop with a staff of American and foreign talent.

Spencer has undertaken projects with celebrated designers and antiquarians Ralph Harvard, John Saladino, David Easton and Suzanne Kasler, as well as with garden designers George Carter and Xa Tollemache point to an intense interest in collaborations. No doubt a result of having been raised in the midst of an extended family of eclectic relations who were craftswomen, artists, collectors, theatrically inclined lawyers and judges. A clan never short on opinions relative to the arts.

Spencer revels in lecturing on architecture, the arts in general and what constitutes beauty. A small talk at NYU early on has led to lectures at Sotheby’s Institute, the University of Venice, the Georgian Society, and within the hallowed halls of the George F. Baker Houses, the New York City base for perhaps the greatest collector and rescuer of historic homes in America, Dick Jenrette, who passed away this year.

Madison Spencer studied at the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies and at the University of Virginia where he earned a Master of Architecture degree. There at Virginia he was a Governor’s Fellow and Huguenot Scholar, a curious and obscure scholarship if there ever was one. The work of the firm and Spencer’s own residence has been frequently published and occasionally awarded. Spencer is a member of the American Institute of Architects, sits on the board of the International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism based in London, and is or has been involved in several other arts related boards and public organizations.