Charles Moore’s childhood was richly informed by his art-historian father, who led the family on travels throughout the country, in part to focus on the wonders of the built environment. It was his “exposure to the magic of wonderful architecture through books and travel,” he recalls, that led him to take art classes at the Corcoran School of Art and later enroll in an intense, five-year architecture program. “All that I’d learned created an authentic desire to design the next great house,” Moore notes.

In 1990, he launched Moore Architects, PC with only two employees. Today, the firm boasts a team of nine, including architects and interior designers. With his early enthusiasm still intact, Moore places an emphasis on “creating terrific houses that fully capture a client’s aesthetic and programmatic wishes.” As he explains, “We always listen to clients’ dreams and desires for their homes, including the magic and mundane elements of life and architecture. And we work with them from the first design concept through completion of construction.”

The principal counts three of architecture’s greats as inspiration to his practice: “Richard Meier for his pure simplicity of form; Louis Kahn for his understanding of light, massing and axis; and Robert Venturi for his exploration of the richness of American architecture.” Also committed to minimizing environmental impact in his work, Moore believes that “every project must be sustainable as well as beautiful.”