With a lifelong passion for home design, architect Rob Whitten founded Whitten Architects in 1986, and has specialized in New England residential design since 1990. Over the years, Rob has deliberately kept the size of the firm small so that he can remain involved in every project the team takes on.

Born and raised in Winchester, Massachusetts, Rob spent his summers on the water in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. He attended undergraduate school at Middlebury College in Vermont and graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In 1976, he came to Portland and found it to be a great city with good bones. He bought an old house on Munjoy Hill, fixed it up, and developed a new appreciation for gardens and landscape.

A member of The Portland Society for Architecture and the American Institute of Architects, Whitten believes that a well-designed home should fit its site and context and—when all is said and done—look like it’s always been there.

When he’s not working with clients on the design of their homes, he enjoys sketching, gardening, sailing, hiking, and reading. Rob’s sailing and outdoor experiences have taught him how to work with the natural elements; his sketching has taught him about balance, scale, proportion, and color and made him a good observer of the natural and built environment. Rob and his wife, Robin, enjoy walking tours in Italy—Rob illustrates and Robin writes a daily travel journal. Their son, Denney, is also an architect and works for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in New York City.

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