Michael Davis

Michael Davis is an award-winning, internationally-recognized architect and interior designer known primarily for pioneering the adaptive reuse of architectural details, salvage, and industrial design into distinctive home environments. Davis has made his early influences, life experience, and personal philosophy of design cornerstones of his work.

As a young boy moving from New York to Los Angeles due to his father's burgeoning career as a writer and producer of several popular television programs (You are There, Naked City, Route 66), an unfortunate turn of circumstances left he and his older brother orphans, and the sense of home and place became a primary focus. In 1967, an uncle adopted the two boys and Davis found himself living in a distinctive brownstone on East 61st Street once owned by Montgomery Clift. A nostalgia for the comfort of home and how a physical structure can influence one's life are deeply-rooted beliefs which characterize Davis' working relationship with his clients and the eventual outcome of the design projects.

Upon completing his studies at Harvard's Graduate School of Design, Davis began to apply his belief that buildings have a responsibility to change people. He set out to explore how the continuity of structures and objects could influence commissioned architecture and interior design projects. A focus on re-imagined and re-purposed architectural details and industrial elements would become hallmarks of Davis' approach to historic renovations as well as new construction.

Davis became a registered architect in 1989 and began to work with a number of prominent firms including Beyer, Blinder, Belle; Prentice and Chan, Olhausen; and Edwin Schlossberg's firm, ESI Design. There, he collaborated closely with production designer, Cabot McMullen, who was instrumental in shaping an approach to the theatrical nature of design. The two designers continued their collaboration after completing the Sony Wonder Museum of Technology at ESI and opened an office together before Mr. McMullen relocated to Hollywood and a successful career in Film and Television.

In 1994, he founded Michael Davis Architects & Interiors in Manhattan . The firm's work includes distinctive residential design and renovations, specially commissioned commercial projects, and museum and exhibition design. Davis' architecture and interior design work has been published extensively in Architectural Digest, GQ, The New York Times, Elle, HGTV and The Huffington Post. In addition, Davis was named the 2003 Rising Star in Home and Interior Design by Fashion Group International.

In 2011, Davis opened 3FortySeven, a showroom gallery located in Hudson, New York, not far from where he has enjoyed a personal home for over twenty years. 3FortySeven is an extension of Davis' architecture and design firm showcasing antique furniture, lighting, decorative objects and re-imagined industrial salvage. 3FortySeven has already been recognized by Travel & Leisure and CNNTravel as a unique shopping destination in the Hudson Valley.

Davis' professional affiliations include membership in the American Institute of Architects, the New York Society of Architects, and the National Council of Architectural Review Boards. He is also a guest blogger for The Huffington Post.

Davis was born in New York City in 1960 and raised both there and in Los Angeles. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in the History of Art and Comparative Literature from Brown University and a Master of Architecture from Harvard. He currently resides in Brooklyn Heights with his wife Nicole Porter Willcox, an art psychotherapist.

Visit www.michaeldavisarchitects.com and www.3fortyseven.com for more information.