I was born and raised in New York's Greenwich Village. Our house was part of the MacDougal-Sullivan Street Gardens, a wonderful part of the world where two rows of 4-story buildings face each other, enclosing a block-long garden open to all who live there. Those townhouses, built in the 1860s and remodeled in the '20s, formed a community that has had an enormous impact on me. It fostered close friendships and underscored the importance of working together as a group.
Growing older, I began to roam the city – the winding streets of the Village, the cast-iron buildings of SOHO, the soaring skyscrapers uptown, a range of styles that fostered a life-long interest in architecture and design. In my early 20s, I spent a year studying in England and, building on courses I had taken in college, I continued to research a diversity of styles and the importance of historic preservation. In particular, I came across a house in an English village that had been built in 1510. It not only spoke of the past in the most evocative of ways, but it reinforced for me a commitment to fine craftsmanship in whatever one makes, whether a cottage, high-rise or a chair.
While growing up an admirer of architects and designers, I was also a builder at heart. Over summer breaks in high school and college, I worked as a carpenter, cabinetmaker and mason. Building a chest with the proper joinery, erecting a chimney with the correct materials and technique, learning the proper way to frame a house were all part of a desire to create something beautiful that would last. That passion is still with me.
I founded D.H.E. Company in 1986. During the years since then, I have derived great pleasure in the work we've done on clients' houses and apartments. I take pride in the care and skill that our carpenters and sub-contractors bring to their work. Always, they are collaborative efforts, where everyone is committed to working together and to the highest standards of their craft to achieve our client’s vision.