We are excited to announce that our Long Beach architecture firm has reached a huge milestone. This year, we are celebrating our 20th anniversary as a company! You can read the official press release here.
Grisafe Architecture owner Mark Grisafe started as an independent architect in Long Beach back in 2002 under the name M. Grisafe Architect. For the first few years, he took on his own projects while still working for larger firms, and in 2005, he took the plunge and took M. Grisafe Architect full time. From 2002 until 2009, the firm did only residential design, but in 2009, when the housing market crashed, Mark expanded into doing commercial work as well, which was more readily available at the time.
M. Grisafe Architect was headquartered at Mark’s home for several years before he decided to build a dedicated office space behind his Long Beach house. Shortly thereafter, he hired is first employee, and then another. When space became an issue, the M. Grisafe Architecture team moved into our first commercial space. More employees were added to the team, allowing us to further expand our services, and a couple of years later, we moved into our current space on Anaheim Street in Long Beach.
Over the years, we’ve come to be known as one of the top architecture firms in Long Beach. While we’re not the biggest, we are able to offer a wide range of services to our residential and commercial customers, while still giving them the type of personalized customer service you can only find at a small firm.
Some Project Highlights from the Last 20 Years
We’ve been involved in some great projects during our time in business, but there are a few that stand out, either because of the uniqueness of the project, or because of the dramatic transformation we were able to achieve.
Deep Blue Swim School: For this project, we took an empty commercial building and turned it into an indoor swim school, allowing Deep Blue to offer swim lessons year-round. The space now includes a large pool that is ozone sanitized (allowing them to use minimal amounts of chemicals), restrooms, showers, changing rooms, a reception area, retail space, and offices. Next to the pool is a large glass wall that lets parents see their children’s progress during their swim lessons. The end result of this unique design project was a fun, colorful space that will inspire kids of all ages to learn how to swim and help the company achieve their goal of reducing the number of childhood drownings.
Henry Clock House: This residential design project is special because the home we redesigned is on Long Beach’s list of Historic Landmarks. We were able to help the new owners bring the home back to its original Monterey Revival style in areas where previous remodeling efforts had missed the mark. Our design also helped make the home more suitable for entertaining and added elements that will help the owners age in place.
Reflection Garden at St. Cornelius Church: While not a large or overly complicated project, this garden that we designed for a local Long Beach church is very special to us. We had the privilege of creating a space where those who have suffered the loss of a child can come and have a moment of quiet reflection. The garden is full of symbolism and features inspirational quotes that offer hope and encouragement.
Celebrating 20 Years
To commemorate our 20 years in business, our entire team, along with our significant others, gathered at The 908 in Long Beach for a celebratory dinner. The meal was sponsored by our marketing partner, Modmacro, Inc., with whom we’ve been working for more than a decade now. It was a great night of delicious food and good company.
We look forward to many more years in business, helping the people of Long Beach and the surrounding communities create their dream spaces!
