Buttrick White & Burtis

Buttrick White & Burtis Architects

Company type	Private
Industry	Architecture
Founded	1981
Founder	Harold Buttrick, Samuel G. White, Theodore A. Burtis III
Defunct	2002
Fate	Merged with Platt Byard Dovell to form Platt Byard Dovell White (PBDW Architects)
Headquarters	New York City , United States
Key people	Harold Buttrick, Samuel G. White, Theodore A. Burtis III, Jean P. Phifer
Products	Architectural services, restoration, commercial architecture, classical architecture

Buttrick White & Burtis Architects (BWB) was an architectural practice headquartered in New York City, established in 1981 by Harold Buttrick, Samuel G. White, and Theodore A. Burtis III. The firm remained active until 2002, following Buttrick's departure in 1998 to launch Murphy Burnham & Buttrick (MBB Architects). Jean P. Phifer joined as a partner from 1989 through 1996 and subsequently served as president of the New York City Public Design Commission between 1998 and 2003. Michael Dwyer contributed to the firm’s work from its inception in 1981 until 1996, while William W. Braham was part of the team from 1983 to 1989. In 2002, BWB combined forces with Platt Byard Dovell, resulting in the creation of Platt Byard Dovell White (PBDW Architects).

Architectural practice

The firm’s body of work was notably varied, encompassing both traditional restoration projects and cutting-edge commercial architecture. Architectural historian Carter Wiseman observed in 1985 the stark contrast between their classical renovation of the oak-paneled Harvard Club of New York and their pioneering designs for the then-popular Tower Records outlets, with the downtown branch acclaimed as "the most successful such enterprise in America."

BWB gained recognition for skillful restorations and expansions of significant architectural landmarks, including the revitalization of Manhattan’s Grand Army Plaza (completed 1990), the refurbishment and new eastern facade at Casa Italiana within Columbia University (finalized 1996), and the Brooklyn College library renovation and addition (finished 2002).

Their most extensive commission was a fifteen-story postmodern structure for Manhattan’s Saint Thomas Choir School, initiated in 1985 and completed by 1987. The building was officially dedicated in 1988 by the Most Rev. Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1990, critic Paul Goldberger lauded it as "among the city's best examples of contextual architecture."

BWB also created new buildings in classical styles; a New York Times feature from 1995 spotlighted Michael Dwyer’s classical yacht design, an $8.95 million townhouse on the Upper East Side, and the renovation of Rudolph Nureyev’s former apartment at the Dakota.

Several leading architects at BWB were prolific writers, especially Samuel G. White, who was a great-grandson of architect Stanford White. Between 1998 and 2008, he co-authored a three-volume series on Stanford White's firm, McKim, Mead & White, which received an Arthur Ross Award from the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art in 2015.

Principal architectural works

• Ships Chandlery, 170 John St., New York City (restoration with sixth-floor addition, completed 1982).
• Tower Records, Broadway at 4th St., New York City (completed 1983).
• Tower Records, Broadway at West 66th St., New York City (completed 1984).
• Tower Records, Washington DC (completed 1985).
• Tower Records, Torrance, California (completed 1986).
• Tower Records, Piccadilly Circus, London, UK (completed 1986).
• Saint Thomas Choir School, 202 West 58th St., New York City (completed 1987).
• Grand Army Plaza restoration, Manhattan, New York City (completed 1990).
• Ballplayers House, Central Park, New York City (completed 1990).
• Annex Building at Chapin School, New York City (completed 1990).
• Classical-style townhouse at 14 East 81st St., New York City (completed 1991).
• Dana Discovery Center in Central Park, New York City (completed 1993).
• William Sidney Mount House restoration, Stony Brook, NY (completed 1993).
• Edison Arms Apartments, 2828 Decatur Ave., Bronx, New York (completed 1993).
• Bonnie Dune Residence restoration in Southampton, NY (completed 1993—with interior design by Jed Johnson Associates).
• Otto H. Kahn House (Convent of the Sacred Heart), Fifth Avenue at 91st St., New York City (restored in 1994).
• Casa Italiana at Columbia University, New York City (restoration with new east facade completed in 1996—with Italo Rota as associate architect).
• Frick Art Research Library of the Frick Collection on Fifth Avenue, New York City (alterations finished in 1996—with Shepley Bulfinch as associate architect).
• Walsh Library at Fordham University, Bronx, NY (completed in 1996—with Shepley Bulfinch as associate architect).
• Siegel Student Center restoration and expansion at Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY (completed in 1998).
• Middle School Building at Trinity School, New York City (finished in 1998).
• Second Street Child Care Center in Brooklyn, New York (completed in 1999).
• Marymount School of New York alterations at 2 East 82nd St., New York City (completed in 2001).
• Brooklyn College Library restoration and addition in Brooklyn, NY (finished in 2002—with Shepley Bulfinch as associate architect).

Published Works

Distinguished books authored by architects formerly linked to Buttrick White & Burtis encompass:

• William W. Braham. Modern Color/Modern Architecture: Amédée Ozenfant and the Genealogy of Color in Modern Architecture (Ashgate, 2002).
• William W. Braham. Rethinking Technology: A Reader in Architectural Theory (Routledge, 2007).
• William W. Braham. Architecture and Energy: Performance and Style (Routledge, 2013).
• William W. Braham. Energy Accounts: Architectural Representations of Energy, Climate, and the Future (Routledge, 2016).
• Michael Dwyer, editor, with a preface by Mark Rockefeller. Great Houses of the Hudson River (Little, Brown and Company, 2001).
• Michael Dwyer, author, featuring a foreword by Mario Buatta. Carolands (San Mateo County Historical Association, 2006).
• Jean Parker Phifer. Public Art New York (W.W. Norton & Co., 2009).
• Samuel G. White. The Houses of McKim, Mead & White (Rizzoli, 1998).
• Samuel G. White and Elizabeth White. McKim, Mead & White: The Masterworks (Rizzoli, 2003).
• Samuel G. White and Elizabeth White. Stanford White Architect (Rizzoli, 2008).
• Samuel G. White. Nice House (The Monacelli Press, 2010).
• Samuel G. White. Stanford White in Detail (The Monacelli Press, 2020).

External links

• Official site of PBDW Architects
• Official site of MBB Architects