Ike Kligerman Barkley was an American architectural firm established in 1989 and dissolved in 2022. The firm had offices in New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area.The Monacelli Press, "Ike Kligerman Barkley Houses," The Monacelli Press website. Accessed May 10, 2019.Hadley Keller, "A Day with the Architects of Ike Kligerman Barkley," Architectural Digest, May 10, 2017. Accessed May 10, 2019. The practice was led by partners and founders John Ike and Thomas A. Kligerman, and Joel Barkley, who joined as a partner in 1999.Architectural Digest, "2010 AD100: Ike Kligerman Barkley," Architectural Digest, January 1, 2010. Accessed May 10, 2019.The Monacelli Press, "The New Shingled House," The Monacelli Press website. Accessed May 10, 2019. The firm designed buildings across the United States and elsewhere, and is known for residences characterized by an eclectic approach to historical precedent, style, materials and client tastes rather than for a single aesthetic.Kathleen Hackett, "Power of Restraint," Veranda Magazine, August 2015, pp. 128–135.David Colman, "A Long Island Beach House Embraces Shingle Style," Architectural Digest, June 2015. Accessed May 10, 2019.Ted Loos, "Ike Kligerman Barkley Knows How to Elevate Relaxed Retreats," Introspective Magazine, January 11, 2012. Accessed May 10, 2019. Architect, educator and architectural historian Robert A. M. Stern described the partners as "modern traditionalists" whose work was "wonderfully consistent in quality and also wonderfully inconsistent in style."Robert A. M. Stern, "Foreword," Ike Kligerman Barkley Houses, New York: The Monacelli Press, 2010. Accessed May 10, 2019.
Ike Kligerman Barkley (IKB) was widely featured in publications such as Architectural Digest,Dan Shaw, "Look Inside an Art-Filled Country Home in New York," Architectural Digest, June 2012. Accessed May 10, 2019. Elle Decor,Vicky Lowry, "How An Accomplished Interior Designer Created A Dream Home In Her Hometown," Elle Décor, June 11, 2015. Accessed May 10, 2019. House Beautiful,House Beautiful, "Master Class: Tom Kligerman on Crucial Details," House Beautiful, January 2017. Veranda,Douglas Brenner, "Above the Surf," Veranda Magazine, August 2012, pp. 66–75. Luxe Interiors + Design,Jorge S. Arrango, "Forever Young," Luxe Interiors + Design Miami, May 2017. Accessed May 10, 2019.Tate Gunnerson, "Perfect Pitch," Luxe Interiors + Design Pacific Northwest, July 2014, pp. 265–277. and Ocean Home Magazine.Ocean Home Magazine, "Ocean Home 50: Our Top Coastal Architects of 2018," Ocean Home Magazine, October–November 2018. Accessed May 10, 2019. The firm received the New York Chapter AIA Award, the Decoration and Design Building (DDB) Stars of Design Award, and the Institute of Classical Art and Architecture's Julia Morgan and Stanford White awards, among others.Institute of Classical Art and Architecture, "2014 Awards," Northern California Chapter, Julia Morgan Awards. Accessed May 10, 2019.Institute of Classical Art and Architecture, "Stanford White Awards," Winners From 2014. Accessed May 10, 2019.Home Builder Digest, " The Best Architects in California," Home Builder Digest, January 4, 2018. Accessed May 10, 2019. It regularly appeared on Architectural Digests annual Top 100 Designers (AD100) list beginning in 1995.Architectural Digest, "100 New Design Ideas from the New AD100," Architectural Digest, January 2007.Architectural Digest, "Ike Kligerman Barkley," Architectural Digest, December 2017. Accessed May 10, 2019.Peter Lyden, "Classicism Abounds in the Architectural Digest 100," Institute of Classical Art and Architecture, December 18, 2016. Accessed May 10, 2019. Monacelli Press published two monographs by the firm, Ike Kligerman Barkley: Houses (2010) and The New Shingled House (2015).Ike Kligerman Barkley, Ike Kligerman Barkley Houses, Foreword by Robert A. M. Stern, New York: The Monacelli Press, 2010. Accessed May 10, 2019.John Ike, Thomas A. Kligerman, and Joel Barkley, with Marc Kristal, The New Shingled House, New York: The Monacelli Press, 2015. Accessed May 10, 2019. IKB's work has also been included in the books, The Art of Classical Details,Phillip Dodd, The Art of Classical Details: Theory, Design & Craftsmanship, mages Publishing, 2013. Accessed May 10, 2019. Decorating in Detail by Alexa Hampton,Alexa Hampton, Decorating in Detail, Potter Style, 2013. Accessed May 10, 2019. and Inner Spaces: Paul Vincent Wiseman & The Wiseman Group,Brian Coleman, Inner Spaces: Paul Vincent Wiseman & The Wiseman Group, Gibbs Smith, 2014. Accessed May 10, 2019. Essence of Home: Timeless Elements of Design,Liesl Geiger, Essence of Home: Timeless Elements of Design, New York: The Monacelli Press, 2007. Accessed May 10, 2019. and New York Splendor: The City's Most Memorable Rooms.Wendy Moonan, New York Splendor: The City's Most Memorable Rooms, New York: Rizzoli, 2018. Accessed May 10, 2019.
In 2022, Ike and Kligerman dissolved Ike Kligerman Barkley to start their own firms.Kaitlin Petersen. "John Ike and Tom Kligerman end partnership, launch new firms," Business of Home, July 28, 2022. Accessed February 27, 2023.Ike Kligerman Barkley. Announcement. Accessed February 27, 2023. Kligerman Architecture & Design, based out of New York City is led by Kligerman and his partners, Joseph Carline, Andrew Forbes Davis, Margie Lavender and Ross Padluck. Ike Baker Velten, based in Oakland, California, is led by Ike and his partners Carl Baker and Tyler Velten.
Partners and offices Architects John Ike and Thomas A. Kligerman met at Columbia University and co-founded the firm, as Ike & Kligerman Architects, in 1989 in New York City.New York Spaces, "Q&A with the Architects of Ike Kligerman Barkley," New York Spaces, February 7, 2016. Accessed May 10, 2019. Ike (born 1954) was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio and graduated with a biochemistry degree from Colorado College, before earning a master's degree at the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture. He studied under and then worked for Robert A. M. Stern before co-founding Ike & Kligerman. Ike has a particular interest in interior design and furniture and established the firm's interiors practice.Hadley Keller, "How Ike Kligerman Barkley's Office Renovation Created a Modern Work Environment," Architectural Digest, August 23, 2017. Accessed May 10, 2019. His design has combined aesthetic influences from the built legacy, regional inflections such as Italian and Scandinavian precedents (often noted during travels), and the rational influence of his science background.
Thomas Kligerman (born 1957) earned architecture degrees from Columbia University (BA) and the Yale School of Architecture (MA), and began his career with Robert A. M. Stern Architects.Andrew Conway, "Watch Hill, Rhode Island Residence," Ocean Home Magazine, September 19, 2016. Accessed May 10, 2019. He has attributed his interest in the history of domestic architecture, gardens and landscapes to his upbringing in Connecticut (where he first experienced shingled cottages) and New Mexico, and student years in England and France.Thomas A. Kligerman, "A Shingled South Carolina House Filled with Architectural Detail," Architectural Digest, August 24, 2016. Accessed May 10, 2019.AIA San Mateo County, "Lecture at Stanford: Thomas A. Kligerman,". Accessed May 10, 2019. Kligerman was president of The Sir John Soane’s Museum Foundation and lectures regularly on architectural history and the intersection of modern and traditional aesthetics. In 2017, he was a visiting scholar at the American Academy in Rome.Thomas A. Kligerman, "Architect Thomas A. Kligerman on 'Unknown American Academy,'" ICAA, February 20, 2018. Accessed May 10, 2019.
Architect and partner Joel Barkley joined the firm in 1999, forming Ike Kligerman Barkley. Barkley (born 1967, Chattanooga, Tennessee) studied at Georgia Institute of Technology (BS), Princeton University School of Architecture (MA, Architecture), and the École des Beaux-Arts at Fontainebleau.Paloma Contreras, "The Style Files: Joel Barkley," La Dolce Vita, January 12, 2016. Accessed May 10, 2019. Prior to IKB, he worked for Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Robert A. M. Stern Architects, and Diller + Scofidio. Barkley is a watercolorist who has illustrated several gardening books and maintains an organic garden. He has noted the influence of both practices on his painterly approach to the composition of houses and gardens.Orli Ben-Dor, "Follies," House Beautiful, November 2014, p. 21. Barkley left the firm in 2018 to pursue his own work.
IKB's New York headquarters were located in 330 West 42nd Street, an Art Deco landmark designed by Raymond Hood in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan. Ike initially rented space on a per-desk basis there in 1988—on the firm’s current floor—when it was an open space shared by several firms. As Ike & Kligerman, and then IKB, grew through the 1990s and 2000s, it annexed more space, finally occupying the full floor by 2012, with a staff of 30. The firm renovated the office in In 2017, creating an open, all-white, loft workspace. In 2008, IKB opened a West Coast office.
Work Architectural writers suggested that hallmarks of Ike Kligerman Barkley design included: a high regard for historical precedent, balanced by contemporary taste; an emphasis on refined detail, materials and craft; and an ability to synthesize diverse forms and styles into harmonious designs that offered unusual, even unlikely combinations.Peter H. Miller, "The New Shingled House," Period Homes, September 2017. Accessed May 10, 2019.Stacey Bewkes, "Ike Kligerman Barkley at Nantucket by Design," Quintessence, August 21, 2016. Accessed May 10, 2019. The firm's buildings incorporated the vocabularies of the Arts and Crafts movement, Art Deco, Colonial Revival, Modernism, Shingle Style, and wide-ranging precedents such as Ernest Coxhead, Michael Graves, George Howe, Harrie T. Lindeberg, Sir Edwin Lutyens, Bernard Maybeck, McKim, Mead & White, Carlo Scarpa, and John F. Staub.Janice Randall Rohlf, "Ike Kligerman Barkley Renovates an Arts & Crafts Home," Period Homes, May 2019. Accessed May 10, 2019.Jenn Bradley Pfeffer, "Charming Connecticut Home," Traditional Home, July/August 2018. Accessed May 10, 2019. Robert A. M. Stern wrote of the practice's "sure command" of architectural languages of the past, noting "they build upon what went before to extend the trajectory of architecture. Commenting on the past, they say new things." The firm cites contextualism—responding to unique qualities of a site, such as light, landscape or climate, and identifying appropriate vernacular and historical references and forms—as a key tenet.Matt Watts, "Beach House by Ike Kligerman Barkley," Home Adore, March 7, 2013. Accessed May 10, 2019.
Representative projects