Joseph Pell Lombardi

On Site with Shaun Osher

With degrees in both Architecture (B. Arch.) and Historic Preservation (M.Sc.), Joseph Pell Lombardi established his firm in 1969 as one of the first to specialize in restoration, preservation, adaptive re-use and contextual new buildings. With offices in New York, France and Hungary, the Office of Joseph Pell Lombardi has served as architect for over 1,000 projects worldwide.

His practice ranges from preservation projects, as in the conservation of a 12th century château in Andelat, France to large-scale adaptive re-use projects such as Liberty Tower, an early 20th century 33-story Gothic skyscraper in New York City’s Financial District converted to residential use. As both architect and principal, Mr. Lombardi’s 1978 conversion of Liberty Tower introduced residential use to lower Manhattan.

He has conserved and converted to residential use over 200 commercial buildings in Manhattan and has conserved and restored over 200 houses throughout the world. Current projects include conversion to residential use of a Midtown Manhattan tower, nine commercial buildings in SoHo and NoHo being converted to residential use and the creation of a new contextual residential tower on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Mr. Lombardi owns many of the projects in which he is involved. He is the owner of the National Historic Landmark, Armour-Stiner (Octagon) House, the only Roman temple form, domed octagonal house in the world and the first property to have been sold into private ownership by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. He also owns and is conserving several other major historic homes including Château du Sailhant, an early medieval château-fort in the Auvergne region of central France and Alfheim Lodge, a rustic, storybook lodge in the mountains north of New York City.