Charles Beck
Founder and President
Charles grew up in Freehold, New Jersey, a historic American small town. As a child, he fell in love with traditional architecture and urban design, mainly by being immersed in it. He spent his days walking or riding his bike everywhere - to school, downtown, and to his friend’s house, right around the corner. The downtown and surrounding neighborhoods were comprised of old historic buildings that subconsciously delighted him and made him feel inspired and safe. Later, Charles would study architecture and urban design at the University of Notre Dame where he discovered there were principles of design that made his hometown so great, like walkability, human scale, and a having a diversity of uses. Grateful for having come to this understanding, he went deeper and spent a year studying in Rome, Italy, experiencing first-hand the works of great Renaissance architects and exploring the human-scaled and beautiful cities of Rome, Florence and Assisi. There were many other destinations and lessons to be learned all throughout Europe as Charles spent a year traveling extensively and falling in love with traditional architecture and cities. Post-university, Charles spent five years as an officer in the United States Navy, continuing to travel the world. On his several overseas deployments, Charles saw how all pre-industrial revolution cultures tended to live in traditional neighborhoods with town squares and pedestrian-oriented streets. He understood there was something inherently human to build at a small and convenient scale, with beautiful artisanal architecture. After the military, Charles attended the University of Pennsylvania, earning a Master’s degree in traditional “New Urbanist” Urban Design, including coursework in development at the Wharton Business School. He is grateful for early life formation that caused him to become the skilled and intuitive traditional architect and urban designer he is today.
After graduation, Charles began his professional career with Torti Gallas & Partners, a New Urbanist firm in Washington DC, where he helped design mixed-use, commercial, and residential buildings. After that, he worked with Duncan Stroik in the Mid-West, helping design churches and schools. Going deeper into his faith, Charles took a break from architecture and lived as a monk in a Catholic monastery. For several years he lived a lifestyle of community, prayer and ministry. It wasn’t long though before the tug of creativity became too strong for him and Charles returned to his professional life, grateful for the spiritual and personal growth he had experienced.
In the ensuing chapter of Charles’ life, he has worked for some of the best classical and traditional offices in the world, mostly in New York City, including at the esteemed office of Ferguson & Shamamian. More recently, Charles has been working independently in Florida on various projects, and also within offices as a Project Architect, designing and managing large-scale ecclesiastical and high-end residential projects. Highlights have been a 900 seat Catholic church in Tampa and various high-end classical houses, including one in Golden Oak, Walt Disney World. With over fifteen years of office experience, plus several years working on his own, Charles is a highly skilled and passionate traditional architect, offering the best solutions in architectural and urban design.
Charles holds a professional license in Florida and is certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), facilitating license reciprocity among different states. He is the winner of various professional awards and his work has been exhibited internationally.
Charles is happily married and lives with his wife, Ligia, in Dade City, Florida. He plays piano and sings in his local Catholic church and is enjoying renovating his home, a historic country farmhouse.
Our company is rooted in the values of