Maximillian Hayden Architect, Inc.

12/07/2025

Mill Hill Holiday Tour 2025. So great to see so many friends old and new and ring in the holidays.

11/28/2025

My house will be on the tour this year. Please pop down and say hi!

11/27/2025

How lucky are we all, even the least of us, that we breath another day and tomorrow are able to hold some of our loved ones dear? Thankful and grateful for every blessing that comes our way and for the strength to pull through when they don't. Remember the less fortunate with donations to food banks, homeless shelters, programs for the underprivileged. The needs are especially great on the heels of the shutdown which has affected folks from many walks of life - some of whom have never asked for or wanted assistance.

11/09/2025

A long time coming but newels, balusters and rails all in place. Finishing soon.

09/09/2025

Books take you places you might never go. They give you knowledge of things you've never seen or heard.They present reality with clear pictures and writing or depict worlds that can or might not exist. Tangible page turning books let you reference things time and again without electricity, and catalogue in your mind, if you've a memory strong enough, of text and images that you've drawn upon time and again, that contuously shape the semi amorphous blobs we and our brains are. Books make you quest for more, make you laugh and cry, sometimes needing to walk away as facts as stories cut too close to the bone or need time for the absorption of grit within. Books, here on these shelves, all store memories of people, times, work, pleasure and places - and like old friends, revisiting them from time to time or picking up where we left off, gives immeasurable pleasure.

08/30/2025

https://nypost.com/2025/08/30/us-news/princetons-estate-of-affairs-two-potus-pads-up-for-grabs-for-5m-plus/?fbclid=IwY2xjawMgThRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHoLCvSbRzY-ujQfUlpBljbjyzb6fhbfnA8sSfbG1aKx_FfLFAw0VlGJIt98P_aem_OrfD6GrfKfofM5CpPR9VFA

Was so very fortunate to work on Westland, Grover Cleveland's house, and restore it back to its former glory. Helping the new owners with some minor modifications.

The seven bedroom, 5½-bathroom, Tudor Revival-style home where Woodrow Wilson lived until he was elected president in 1912 first went on the market in May for an eye-popping $6.5 million.

08/27/2025

John Steadman was a builder/architect in Princeton in the mid 1800's. His work is noted for its tall ceilings, fine detailing, and often his symmetrical facades and well organized floor plans. This house once was located the left and then to the right of Nassau Presbyterian Church and finally moved to Bayard Lane in Princeton in the early 1900's. The original kitchen was located in a rear ell but moved to the middle of the house in the 1980's. Cramped and outdated the kitchen, working with the client we decided to split the kitchen into two parts where the working part the cook can partake in family life while a open pantry leading to a study contains the larger refrigerator (refrigerator drawers reside in the island near the stove) and coffee/toaster/microwave which is right around the corner. The island has storage in glass doored ends which enliven the island with its mix of colorful dishes and give it some transparency yet a clever formality with its wood tones and antique style latches.

08/17/2025

For a time I worked at Michael Graves Architect - Michael was a world renown architect, widely honored, published and commissioned. Yesterday Alex Lee and Donald Strum, key product designers at MGA, feted a reunion for many of the folks that worked there from the mid 1980's-mid 1990's and beyond. Michael had started to be widely published when I was in architecture school and a mecca to Princeton one spring break planted the idea that I would like to work there one day. Some 8 years later that dream came true and I worked on a wonderful project for a wonderful couple who then exposed me to another world - far beyond my ken - and helped me to make connections that allowed for similar projects for me. The experience at MGA was invaluable not only for the professional development the relationships formed with co-workers, clients, tradespeople and the like and not least of which was to know Michael. Michael loved people as evidenced by not only his humanistic philosophy of architecture, his teaching at Princeton University, but his care for his clients and staff. Of the many admirable traits I liked about Michael was his love not only for Princeton but for New Jersey, his adopted home state. His mark is on buildings throughout the state not the least of which is the Newark Museum (well worth visiting), the Arts Council of Princeton, campus buildings of many NJ Universities, and more major works out of state at Disneyworld (Dolphin & Swan Hotels), Disney corporate headquarters, Euro Disney, the restoration of the Washington Monument, to name just a few. His holistic approach to design encompassed not only everyday utensils (Target was a major client) but after becoming paralyzed canes, walkers and other useful tools for those with similar disabilities and impairments. His employees not only became recipients of his his vision and generosity - he would be so happy to see us maintaining that sense of a work family that he engendered- but so did the world. MORE LIKE MIKE

08/12/2025

https://www.mansionglobal.com/articles/president-grover-clevelands-former-new-jersey-home-sells-for-5-28-million-31907783?fbclid=IwY2xjawMIbI9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHiVtMIBAeN4a9a8HKWz46Kd3Px9zixn1z6swwzy4B1lM5KEAi6pbVzLn79om_aem_uY8f-1_qn2T4rggpyyXfLQ

The Princeton house was built in 1854 for Sen. Robert F. Stockton, who played a notable role in conquering California

07/19/2025

Sometimes a rustic pasta dish calms the wolf within.

07/04/2025

Oh beautiful for spacious skies for amber waves of grain...

06/07/2025

I hear some great gardens - my garden not one of them but I've been picking up litter and weeding public areas. Be part of the solution not the problem. Give of your time and be happy to do so. Make any place a better place for your having been there. Make joy and beauty to share with others.