The Manhattan-based architecture-and-design team of Richard Bories and James Shearron may be one that has escaped your notice, but these dashing, intelligent gentlemen are slowly but surely making a name for themselves as practitioners of classical design. Enriched by influences ranging from 18th-century France to 1930s Chicago-the inventive classical revivalist David Adler is one of the pair's shared idols-the work of Bories and Shearron is where modern practicality meets old-fashioned elegance. Not long ago they agreed to a virtual interview about their work, lives, and backgrounds, about what makes them tick, as partners and as creators. It is hoped that you will be as charmed and surprised by their viewpoints as I was.

Q: What is missing in the architectural landscape that led you to establish Bories and Shearron?

Bories and Shearron: We find that the majority of today's traditionally inspired domestic architecture lacks a purity of form. Even though many present-day houses are built of the finest materials, they become a three-ring circus of gables, bays, octagonal additions, and acres of irregular stone terraces. The building boom of the last 20 years seems to have spawned an era of houses that accommodates every whim while sacrificing the architectural integrity of the final product. How many family rooms, bonus rooms, sitting areas, computer stations, and private terraces does one family really need? We think it is entirely possible to design dwellings that accommodate a contemporary lifestyle while creating beautiful architecture-minus a few of those bells and whistles!

Q: Among other classic periods, you have been greatly inspired by American domestic architecture of the 1920s and 1930s. What about that period delights you? And what can buildings of the past teach us about gracious living today?

B&S: This period of architecture is, to us, the perfect blend of classically trained architects (e.g., the Ecole des Beaux-Arts), burgeoning technological advances, and a client base eager to create buildings that were simultaneously traditional and modern. We think that many of the houses that we are attracted to from this period show rooms do not have to be huge to be elegant and spacious. If one looks at the plans of some of the country houses of this time period, most of the square footage is taken up by staff quarters and dependencies that today are usually outsourced.

Q: If you had to choose one house of the past you wish you had designed, what would that house be?

James Shearron: This is the most difficult of questions to answer, but of houses that I've actually experienced, one in particular embodies all the things that excite me about architecture. It is the Kersey Coates Reed house and tennis house by architect David Adler; it was built in 1931-32 in Lake Forest, Illinois. In this one estate, Adler was able to orchestrate an extraordinary combination of unique and varied architectural effects and styles-all wrapped up in pitch perfect historical accuracy. To list just a few of the highlights: two rooms were a collaboration with Jean-Michel Frank (one clad in Hermés leather); a large bathroom with eglomisé mirror panels and architectural glass moldings by Steuben; a 55-foot-long main hall flanked with pairs of black Belgian marble columns set against a black-and-white marble floor and culminating in a spiral stair adorned with plain and twisted wrought-glass balusters; and room after room of perfectly scaled period Colonial and Georgian millwork finished in all manners possible. All of this in a house whose exterior is that of a "humble" Pennsylvania stone farmhouse, incongruously laid out in a grand, five-part Palladian plan. Even the siting of the house is a thing of beauty. Its landscape is comprised of almost no domestic plantings, just towering oaks and a simple lawn perched on the edge of a bluff 90 feet above Lake Michigan. If this weren't enough, there is more across the street! On axis through the whole estate, past two sets of beautiful white painted iron gates, down a lengthy cutting garden surrounded by walls of clipped evergreens, and ending at a circular reflecting pool, is a perfectly scaled one-and-a-half story cottage designed in the same heady mix of Colonial Revival and modern glamour as the main house. This guest house serves as an "architectural screen" for an indoor tennis court that is lit by a glass roof and five Palladian windows and recessed half-way into a primordial-like forest ravine.

Richard Bories: I would choose the Petit Trianon, designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel for Madame de Pompadour (later used by Madame du Barry and Marie Antoinette) at Versailles. It was designed as a "simple" place of refuge from the strict etiquette of court life at the palace. As a shameless Francophile, I find that it embodies perfectly all of the elements of great 18th-century French architecture: order, delight, symmetry, artistic collaboration, "taming" of the environment, and the use of technology. I was fortunate enough to have a private tour of the palace of Versailles in the early '90s and was struck by how truly intimate the Petit Trianon was. We actually copied the panelling from the cabinet des glaces mouvantes (room with the moving mirrors) for the dining room/library in our last project-the proportions of both rooms matched exactly!

Q: In what kind of house or houses did each of you spend your childhoods? And has that experience informed your work, either pro or con?

Shearron: I lived in two distinctly different houses growing up, both of which inspired and shaped my ideas about architecture. The first was a rustic Lannon stone-and-cedar 1960s California ranch house surrounded by old white oaks and meandering modern gardens designed by my parents. Their landscape design made a big impression on me; this is when I fell in love with gardening and garden design. At around age 11, I took on some of my own projects from planning to planting. I trained four forsythia espaliers against a fence, creating a series of arches-this was my proudest achievement aside from cutting the grass every week with obsessive precision. Our next house was a 1939 Dutch Colonial Revival by Jerome Cerny, a popular Midwestern architect of the '30s through the '50s (he eventually bought the Lasker house by Adler and developed the estate). Here I got the chance to see first-hand what was to become my passion: Classical Revival architecture. The house was full of unique, chunky Colonial-style millwork, beautiful hardware, and dramatic gestures. Two notable elements were an over-scaled, bolection-style, early-American mantel with a '30s flair and three enormous floor-to-ceiling, "walk-in" bay windows, one in each room on the first floor. They have always reminded me of Gull Cottage in the 1947 film The Ghost & Mrs. Muir. As I grew older, I became very involved in helping with the design of the interiors. Eventually, my duties extended to designing a new garden and garage. The garden is a very tailored, French-style courtyard of boxwood and yew, ringed with a pea-gravel walk. The garage/folly at the far end serves as a focal point. I still consult often with my mother on new projects. This house, coupled with my mother's generous and faithful willingness to let me be the designer, has been an invaluable testing ground.

Bories: I grew up in a 1-1/2-story wood frame Cape Cod in the Midwest. At a total of 900 square feet, it definitely taught me that one can live graciously in a small space. The dining room did triple duty as entrance hall, dining room, and project room. I desperately wanted to add a fireplace and crown mouldings. My first renovation experience took place in this house working with my father. We converted an old china cabinet that was tucked under the stairs in the dining room into a telephone desk. I remember the thrill of how a simple change to something so familiar could completely alter one's experience of a room. My mother was always repainting window and door casings and refurbishing furniture. It was fun to come home from school and see what she had endeavored to do that day!

Bories: I can honestly say that I have had a love affair with old houses since I was a small boy. I was most inspired by the late-19th-century house of my maternal grandmother. It was decorated by Robert E. Lee (really!) from Grosse Pointe, Michigan, in the mid '70s. He kept all of the original architectural details. The red-toile-du-Jouy wallpaper in the stair hall and the painted-wood-and-redbrick Georgian fireplace were my favorite bits. I am certain the fond memories of this place have encouraged my desire to replicate the "feeling" I experienced whenever I visited there. I am most attracted to the quality of light and sound in traditional design. Mouldings celebrate openings and changes in materials by reflecting light and casting shadows. There is also comfort in a room that is not overlit: Leave a little mystery in the corners, I say. Also, a room with tall ceilings and real plaster walls provide an acoustic privacy that rarely occurs in new houses.

Q: What book about architecture or design could you not live without?

Shearron: The City and the Country Builder's and Workman's Treasury of Designs by Batty Langley, which was published in 1750. If they would count as one book, I would also say all 17 volumes (is that cheating?) of the original White Pines Series-but I don't own them anyway.

Bories: As an architect, I couldn't live without Architectural Graphic Standards by Ramsey & Sleeper. It's the go-to book for almost any detail that I need to draw. However, I randomly leaf through many of my architecture books almost daily to keep my eye trained.

Q: What are the details that can make or break a room? For me, it's doorknobs and hinges. If they are cheap, the room will always disappoint.

B&S: First, we would both wholeheartedly agree with you regarding the details that make a room. Beautiful, quality hardware can make even the smallest room with clumsy proportions and bad light something special. Second, beautiful windows are mandatory. Without them, any room is doomed. They should be of fine quality in wood or steel and composed in a pleasing proportion of glass to muntins. In all traditional architecture, this means that the panes must be vertical rectangles or squares.

Q: As an architect and a designer working together, what strengths do you bring to each other's work?

B&S: Dick's many years of practical experience working with the built environment, both in commercial and residential architecture, is the skill that makes all of the firm's design ideas a reality. In addition, he has experienced spending time in some of the great 18th-century houses of France as the result of friendships with members of some of this country's oldest families. This has given him a unique understanding and respect for the house as a living thing that can persist through many generations. He has a fascination for the simple beauty of day-to-day household activities and takes special care designing so any task can become a thing of beauty. He cares about the quality of light-as it would appear at midday in a back hall spilling through an open door, streaking down from a second story window as you walk into the bright light of the entry, or falling across dry oak paneling and old leather spines enhancing the intimacy of a library. Dick has an innate sense and confidence in how surfaces will look before they are built, a key factor in the transformation from a drawing into wood, glass, and plaster. He designs with the idea that the physical qualities of each room will help create an order to one's life and that simplicity-even when applied to the most ornate materials-is the key to a great house. James brings a special mix of personal experiences to the firm. For more than twenty years, he worked as an editor for magazines such as Mirabella and House & Garden. His projects were among the most insightful published-always bringing the esoteric and rarely-seen to the fore. Before this stage of his career, he worked for two of the most respected designers in the country, Jed Johnson and Mark Hampton. As a complement to these experiences, he also had the opportunity of spending his childhood in and around some of the most revered domestic architecture in the country. Growing up on Chicago's North Shore, he was surrounded by houses designed by David Adler, Delano & Aldrich, and H. T. Lindeberg. A childhood friend lived in one of Adler's most beautiful houses, and James spent years taking in every detail. He fondly remembers exploring quite a few abandoned houses during the early 1970s as they had been left empty after the Second World War. Ironically, the education of this Hardy-Boys-mystery-style play proved to be invaluable. Given these perfectly paired sets of life experiences, he is the perfect partner to Dick's more practical and technical contribution. James also has a truly inspiring and extensive personal library of architecture and design books that he's collected since he was a boy. His intimate knowledge of these tomes serves as an endless supply of inspiration and details, and selections from these books often provides the starting point for the look and feel of Bories and Shearron's projects.

Q: What is the one element of your own home or homes that you would like to redesign?

Shearron: I would like a new kitchen and bath! I rent an apartment within a Beaux-Arts townhouse in New York City, and while the main rooms are lovely with high ceilings, generous proportions, and great millwork, the kitchen and bath are in desperate need of help. I dream of taking the plunge and doing them both over regardless of my renter status.

Bories: I live in a studio apartment in New York City in the Carteret, designed by Emery Roth in 1926. My steel casement window was brutalized some time ago. I would love to be able to refurbish it with new brass casement fittings and replace the newer panes with real 1/4-inch-thick plate glass.

Q: What amenity should no residence be without? My vote would be for a cedar closet.

Shearron: At least one fantastic bathroom!

Bories: A small, paneled library with a fireplace and large window.

Q: You are classicists but what recent modern buildings or edgy architects do you admire?

Shearron: I am a big fan of John Pawson and his absolutely ultimate commitment to purity while being warm and modern. His work is truly inspiring.

Bories: I find that I am mesmerized by anything designed by Santiago Calatrava. I remember seeing a bridge he designed when I was in grad school and thinking it was pure poetry. It's thrilling how many of his creations react to light by opening and closing-as though they are alive. I'm excited that he is designing the new transportation hub at the World Trade Center here in New York City. His plan for an apartment building on the East River near the Brooklyn Bridge will also add a beautiful object to Manhattan's damaged skyline.

Q: What's playing on your iPod?

Shearron: "Let Love Rule" by Lenny Kravitz, the current remix by Justice.

Bories: I don't own one!! I find that I stream music from iTunes on my computer-mostly Baroque choral music and '70s pop.