Thomas Jamison opened the doors of a small millwork shop on Foundry Lane in 1992, in the lower Hudson Valley town of Cold Spring. He had spent the previous decade apprenticed to a third-generation cabinetmaker in Vermont and a stone yard outside Florence, and he wanted to build houses the way those mentors had taught him — slowly, by hand, with the trades under one roof. The first commission was a clapboard farmhouse outside Garrison: drawn on his drafting table, framed by his own carpenters, with the millwork, the mantel, and the kitchen island all cut in the back of the shop. That method has not changed. Thirty-two years later, the same drafting room still stands at the center of the building.
Jamison HouseHudson Valley NYEst. 1992
The Jamison House Studio
Three generations of master builders working under one roof in Cold Spring — sketching the houses they will then build, with their own hands, in their own shop.
Chapter One · Lineage
Three generations, one workshop.
Eliana Jamison-Hart joined the firm in 2008 after completing her graduate work at Yale and a tour with a Boston residential practice, and became second-generation principal in 2014. She carries her father's conviction that design and fabrication cannot be separated — that the person who draws the house should know exactly which boards will hold it up — and has added a measured rigor to the studio's environmental work, including net-zero-ready envelope systems certified on 38 passive and net-zero homes since 2017. The shop is now run alongside her husband, operations director Caleb Hart, and the third generation is already learning the bench: their daughter Iris, twelve, has begun her first commission — a small reading bench for the front office.
Chapter Two · The Shop
A 12,000-square-foot shop where the house is actually built.
Before a single beam is raised on site, the millwork, the stone, and the architectural metal for your home are fabricated in our own building — a climate-controlled, 12,000 sq ft workshop seven minutes from the Hudson. No signature detail leaves the studio in the hands of a subcontractor. Nothing is shipped in from a vendor catalogue.
9
Master Carpenters
avg. 19 yrs on staff
3
Certified Stone Artisans
in-house fabrication
2
Licensed Architects
on the design bench
41
Master Trade Staff
avg. 17 yrs tenure
Chapter Three · Standing
Recognized, not advertised.
A list of credentials, kept short on purpose. Each item below is documented in our project files, our press archive, or our governing bodies — and we are happy to walk any of them through with you in person.
- 2023 AIA Honor Award — Residential Architecture. Merit Hill Residence, Bedford, NY. One of fourteen national citations that year.
- Press 37 editorial features across Architectural Digest, Dwell, Elle Decor, and House & Garden since 2010.
- 2022–23 "Custom Builder of the Year," Metropolitan Home & Design Quarterly — back-to-back years.
- Since 1992 Better Business Bureau — A+ rating across all thirty-two years of continuous operation.
- Memberships National Association of Custom Builders (NACB) and NAHB Certified Aging-in-Place Specialists (CAPS).
- Leadership Eliana Jamison-Hart, AIA, LEED AP — licensed architect and second-generation principal; lead signatory on every drawing the studio issues.
- Practice 98% of project budgets delivered within 4% of the contracted figure over the last decade.
- Sourcing Net-zero-ready building envelope systems certified for 38 passive and net-zero homes since 2017.
By the numbers, since 1992: 412 custom residences · 67 major renovations · 18 boutique commercial commissions · 93% of new business by direct client or architect referral.
Come sit with us at the shop
The Jamison family meets every prospective client personally.
Your first meeting is a conversation at the workshop on Foundry Lane — a walk through the joinery floor, a look at the stone yard, and a long table where we will listen to what your house needs to do. There is no proposal on the second visit; only the question of whether we are the right studio for the work.
Schedule a Private Consultation
Or write to us directly — [email protected] · +1 (212) 555-0184