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Who

A rising star on the scene, Gorlin is one of the most prominent townhouse architects in the city.

Backstory

Queens-born Gorlin went to college at Cooper Union, architecture school at Yale, and spent two years stints at both I.M. Pei's architecture firm and Bill Pederson's Kohn Pedersen Fox before hanging out his own shingle. Gorlin's first-ever commission was relatively small in scale—a garden gate. But the project led him to bigger and better things, as the gate in question belonged to Victoria Newhouse, the wife of billionaire magazine publisher Si Newhouse. As the story goes, Mrs. Newhouse was so pleased with Gorlin's work, she reportedly opened up her Rolodex and granted him entrée to her pool of wealthy social contacts. Since then, Gorlin's worked on a wide variety of projects—from low-income housing developments to schools to posh condos—although he's carved out a niche as an expert when it comes to townhouses.

Of note

Gorlin recently concluded work on a 117-unit affordable housing complex called Spring Creek Houses in East New York. On the opposite end of the spectrum, he was responsible for a ritzy building in Miami—modestly named The Gorlin—whose inhabitants include Architectural Digest EIC (and close Gorlin pal) Paige Rense as well as chunky rapper Fat Joe. One of Gorlin's most famous commissions: He designed the Tribeca loft of his former Cooper Union professor, Daniel Libeskind, in 2004. Other clients have included Vogue editor Grace Mirabella, fashion designer Adrenne Vittadini, and magazine publisher Richard Ekstrakt.

In print

In 2000, Gorlin published The New American Town House. Apparently, the reading public wasn't satisfied, as he followed up in 2005 with Creating the New American Townhouse. Strangely, the 2000 tome spelled the word "Town House," while the second went with "Townhouse."

Personal

The gay Gorlin lives in the same Tribeca building as his friend/mentor/client Daniel Libeskind. In fact, it was Gorlin who urged Libeskind to buy the pad he (Gorlin) would later redesign. He also owns a house in Miami Beach.