About
If design brings form to values, architecture is a conductor for human expression and endeavor.
JCJ Architecture is a diverse planning, architecture and interior design practice that offers comprehensive services to clients in the public and private sector. Our engaged design process brings together our experience as professionals with a methodology of active and alert advocacy. Balancing owner/client goals, functional objectives and physical context alongside project scope, constraints and opportunities, we strive to resolve and manifest project qualities into built form. We see design as a collaborative process and collectively strive to add value to those places and spaces that strengthen communities, businesses, institutions, organizations and individuals.
The firm's portfolio of experience, comprehensive services and collective knowledge are captured in two overall categories – commercial (gaming, entertainment, hospitality, hotel, retail, workplace) and institutional (K12 education, higher education, civic, community, arts & culture, public safety/justice). The firm currently has offices located in Boston, Hartford, New York City, Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Diego, and Tulsa and is registered to practice in 44 US states.
Central to practice is leveraging the collective expertise and energy of our employee-owners. Founded in 1936 and maintained throughout as a privately held firm, the firm took the bold step in 2012 to transition to an ESOP (employee stock ownership plan). Since that time, JCJ has used this structure to strengthen a culture of collaboration and creativity that is balanced by a process of oversight and management. Each of our employee-owners understands the impact their work has on the delivery of our services and the contribution it makes to clients and their constituents. This consciousness keeps the client’s unique context uppermost in our minds as we seek to bring form to their goals and aspirations.
Our mission is to provide design solutions that enhance the built environment, enrich people’s lives and help organizations to succeed.
The quality of built environment has the power to transform places and positively impact communities and institutions. We understand our work necessarily calls us to consider the implications of our efforts and the importance of involvement in a wider conversation about design, stewardship and place-making.
Core competencies: We strive to develop as individuals and a practice in the areas of adaptability, flexibility, growth, self-development, integrity, ethics, respect and collaboration.
Advocacy and involvement: JCJ is part of the local and national dialogue about design and the built environment. We are active members of the American Institute of Architecture, the Metro Hartford, Alliance, the Downtown San Diego Partnership, the Urban Land Institute, the Construction Institute, the Design Build Institute of America as well as other organizations. We actively participate and contribute to the work of groups such as Construction in Indian Country, CANstruction and the ACE Mentor Program.
JCJ Architecture is licensed in:
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming
Comprehensive Services:
- Pre-Design Feasibility and Planning
- Architecture
- Interior Design
- Project Management
- Construction Documents
- Construction Administration
- Regulatory Approvals
- Sustainable Design
- WELL Design
- Graphic Design/Environmental Branding
Areas of Expertise:
- Adaptive Reuse
- Arts & Culture
- Community, Non-Profit
- Corporate, Commercial
- Civic
- Entertainment
- Higher Education
- Historic Preservation
- Hospitality
- Independent K-12
- Mixed Use
- Public K-12
- Public Safety and Justice
History:
JCJ Architecture was originally founded in 1936 in Hartford by Sherwood Jeter, Jr. as S.F. Jeter, Architect. In 1945, accomplished designer Arthur Cook joined Sherwood, and the firm began operating under the name of Jeter and Cook Architects. In 1975, Sherwood and Art transitioned ownership of the firm to Edward Jeter and David Jepson—changing its name in the process to become Jeter, Cook & Jepson Architects. Over the next two decades, Ed and Dave remained the sole leaders of the firm; in the early 1990’s they began the process of expanding the leadership with the elevation of Peter Stevens, Thomas Dowling and Philip Pineo to the role of Principal. It was with this combined group of individuals that the firm began to increase its prominence—expanding into other project types and increasing the size and complexity of its work. In 2001, Edward Jeter retired, and the firm officially transitioned to its third generation of ownership.
In 2005, JCJ Architecture began a process of expansion and of additional transitions. The firm grew from a single-office location in Hartford to a practice with offices nationwide. The firm’s geographic presence has grown through a process of opening new offices or merging operations with an existing local firm. In 2005, the oldest continuously operating Architecture firm in San Diego – Wheeler Wimer Blackman – combined with JCJ. Over the next 3 years, JCJ opened offices in New York, Phoenix and Boston. In 2012, JCJ transitioned structure from private shareholder ownership to become an employee owned company (ESOP). In 2018, JCJ opened offices in Tulsa, OK and Las Vegas, NV. With each of these acquisitions and expansions, JCJ was fortunate to secure local talent with similar values, diverse practices and a long history of working in their communities. With 80+ years of growth and development, JCJ Architecture has maintained a commitment to client service and the practice of comprehensive planning, Architecture and Interior Design services.
Wheeler Wimer Blackman – San Diego
In 1947, Richard “Dick” Wheeler, began practicing architecture in the garage of his Pacific Beach home. Over the next few decades, Wheeler transformed the firm into the leading design team in San Diego, working for a period of time out of the historical “Horizon House” on Rosecrans. Over time the firm expanded to include new partners - Gayne Wimer and Richard Blackman. Wheeler and Wimer collaborated on the design of some of Downtown San Diego’s most iconic buildings – the Westgate Hotel, the SDGE Building, and the restoration of the Casa del Prado and Casa de Balboa. Blackman and Wimer were instrumental in designing the the Scripps Aquarium, the Mission Valley Library and the renovation of the U.S. Grant.
Gayne Wimer became a nationally recognized designer specializing in marine and aquatic architecture. Notable projects and clients included SeaWorld in Orlando and San Diego, and the Living Seas Pavilion at Disney’s Epcot.
Over time, WWB expanded and began designing for new clients such as San Diego Unified School District, the City of San Diego and the County of San Diego. Through an industry organization, senior executives from Jeter, Cook, and Jepson Architects from Connecticut got to know the firm, and they decided to partner on upcoming school and hospitality projects. Like WWB, JCJ had a strongly balanced portfolio in institutional and hospitality design and the firms began long term collaboration on Southern California work. With their relationship one of mutual trust and respect, and WWB principals looking at retirement, the firms combined in 2005. What was previously WWB officially became JCJ Architecture.