Richard J. Heisenbottle, FAIA is the founder and President of R.J. Heisenbottle Architects, PA. Located in Coral Gables, Florida with over 47 years of experience in all aspects of architecture, and planning with a specialty in historic preservation. Richard’s experience focuses on numerous large scale commercial, residential, hotel, historic restoration and adaptive reuse projects. After serving as Project Manager for I.M. Pei & Partners he formed his own firm and has been responsible for numerous award-winning projects throughout the eastern United States. He was accorded the Silver Medal for Design from the AIA Miami in 2003 and was elected to the AIA College of Fellows in February 2005.
The firm is well known in the State of Florida for the restoration of some of the area’s oldest and most prestigious landmarks including Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, Olympia Theatre, Freedom Tower, Carl Fisher Clubhouse and Miami Women’s Club. He has served as President of AIA Miami and Dade Heritage Trust - the area’s largest historic preservation organization. As an alumnus of the University of Miami, he remains active in the School of Architecture serving on the Executive Committee Board of Advisors for the School’s Masters in Real Estate Development + Urbanism program.
Mr. Heisenbottle’s projects have been widely publicized in Architectural Record, the Wall Street Journal, the Miami Herald, Florida Caribbean Architect and Preservation Today Magazine. He has received numerous awards for Excellence in Architecture from the Florida Association of the American Institute of Architects, and the Miami Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. In 1998 he won a National Preservation Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. He has also been the recipient of numerous Outstanding Preservation Project Awards from the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation.
Mr. Heisenbottle’s most notable development projects include Heritage Park a highly contextual design for a 235-unit mixed use development located on three city blocks in historic downtown Sanford, Florida. The firm’s most recent notable historic preservation projects include the Miami Marine Stadium Restoration; David W. Dyer U.S. Courthouse Renovation, Restoration and Adaptive Reuse; Surf Club Four Season Hotel restoration; Carl Fisher Clubhouse Restoration; and the Shrine Building / Boulevard Shops Restoration and Adaptive Reuse. He is once again serving as Preservation Architect for the National Landmark Freedom Tower in downtown Miami and the historic Olympia Theatre.