When the Krump family wanted to build a multimillion-dollar Lake George house, there was one person they called: Mike Phinney.
The Saratoga Springs-based architect has designed and constructed nearly 20 custom homes along the Adirondack lake where he grew up.
Paul and Anne Krump’s property needed major engineering work. The rocky landscape and drop to the western shores of Lake George meant the surface rock would need to be blasted away to build upon.
“We really couldn’t walk the property because it was just too rough, hilly and wooden, bushy and whatnot,” Paul Krump said of the first time they toured it with Phinney.
“[Phinney said], ‘If you’re up for the challenge, we can do it.’ He was very confident. He was very calm.”
That assurance has launched Phinney’s career, attracting custom home clients like the Krumps, well-known resorts such as The Sagamore and Mohonk Mountain House and destination brewpubs like Common Roots and Saranac Lake’s RiverTrail Beerworks.
So much architecture work is anonymous, but over the last 20 years the Phinney name has become synonymous with design that blends the divide between indoors and outdoors.
While each project is custom suited to the client, you know a Phinney Design Group project when you see it: large windows and screen rooms, stone and shingled exteriors, lots of wood beams and saturated colors that mimic the landscape.
Phinney was one of the first architects in the region to embrace green building and devoted his practice to it, using local materials like slate and lumber with modern, sustainable construction techniques.
The passion has paid off.
He’s grown Phinney Design Group into one of the largest architecture firms in the region — a 40-person company with three offices and annual billings of over $8 million.
