Gideon Gelber Architect LLC

04/02/2026

Thoughts on what it means when classic things are "trending."

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12/16/2025

12/10/2025

The late 19th and early 20th century were eras when emotion in art and design were thought of as paramount. It was a reaction against the highly technical and intricate design of the 18th Century. It could be loose and impressionistic, but it could also be spooky and gothic. I was thinking about that trend when I designed this house in an era (Today) that is more Goth than Gothic.

12/10/2025

To truly get into a historical mindset I even named the character... Telemachus Fenley (My first pet plus the street I grew up on.) It makes a very proper 19th Century name. I imagined his cravat, and his trips to the site on a train pulled by a steam engine.

12/08/2025

When designing the enclosed herb garden in the front of the house I was thinking about the spirt of the 'dress reform movement' of the early 20th century. It was a movement away from the stiffness of the Victorian era, looking towards something more organic and natural. Dare I say sexy, or at least earthy. I was trying to get into the mindset of a Victorian architect, who was chafing under the strictures of that style.

12/05/2025

I have had a long time fascination with the French balcony as a design trope, because it is well.... not a balcony. Rather it is a device that turns an entire room into a balcony when the door is left open. Designed By:

11/28/2025

This skylight tops the stairs in a our modern bungalow project. It has been suggested recently that the problem of making our housing stock more approachable might be solved with a 50 year mortgage that lowered monthly payments, by prolonging the term. This may not be such a great approach as life long mortgages turn home buyer in to money renters that are quite elderly before they are true home owners, if they live that long at all. Could building a a more approachable size and density be a better more sustainable approach?

11/28/2025

This house is set in a raised garden... It is an approach that requires less lawn and allows the street address of the house to mature over time.

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11/24/2025

In a walkable town part of the pleasure is being able to watch your neighbors pass by, watching the local kids come home from school, etc. A deep porch provides protection for a glass fronted house. A porch is a layer of privacy--neither in the house nor entirely in the yard. It is an in-between space that fosters community.

11/22/2025

I have been thinking quite a bit recently about the problem of missing middle housing and why the dream of modest home ownership has become increasingly out of reach. Part of the problem (not all of it though) is that we simply have not built enough market rate modest size houses in the last 18 years. A generation of not building in the manner of the capes and bungalows of previous eras has left a shortage of this type of construction.

11/19/2025

A modest size design need not be dull. Our rethinking of the cottage starter-home came out rather sculptural.

11/19/2025

The answer to the fall off in construction of approachable size houses has been an explosion in rental apartment construction. With -American Dream- type housing scarce the developers have answered with apartments. I am skeptical that this is entirely socially desirable as it keeps more of the long term real estate equity in the hands of landlords. This does not allow it to build over time in the hands of home owners.