Charles A. Phillips, Tim Macfarlane

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Charles Phillips

HISTORICAL ARCHITECT AND CONSERVATOR
Phillips began his career at age 16, teaching a course on furniture restoration in Alexandria, VA, followed by operating a restoration shop while attending the University of Texas where he received a BA in History, BArch, MArch in Preservation, and began his formal study of Museology.

As Damage Control & Repair Div. Officer, he attended Fire-Fighting and Damage Control Schools, and spent his active duty maintaining a "vintage" Destroyer including responsibility for nuclear weapons security, in the Mediterranean Sea.

Starting his professional career as Director of Restoration at Old Salem, Inc. an outdoor history museum with 40+ buildings, including the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, Phillips was responsible for major restorations, reconstructions, landscape and maintenance, as well as janitorial services.

During analysis of Gunston Hall in 1981, Phillips met and joined forces with Paul Buchanan, retired Director of Architectural Research for Colonial Williamsburg. Their working association lasted more than a decade, until Paul's death. During that time, the two "sleuths" read the clues and rewrote architectural history at a number of major historic sites.

In 1987, UT college classmate and Texas Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer, Joseph Oppermann, AIA, joined Phillips. Phillips & Oppermann, P.A., a small firm with a national reputation for its work with historic properties and museums, continued this tradition until 1999 when the firm was dissolved, allowing Phillips to focus on his strengths of historical research and development of innovative conservation methods.

Charles A. Phillips PLLC reopened, specializing in the research, conservation, restoration and up-fitting of historic buildings as well as new design and incorporation of new technology within an historic context.

Phillips seldom works alone, believing that collaboration amongst leading experts excites the team to reach beyond expectations. Mentor/Collaborators include:

Dr. William Seale, White House Historian and past Curator of American Culture at the Smithsonian;
Morgan Phillips, FAIC [deceased] who first defined Architectural Conservation;
Marigene Butler, FAIC retired Head of Conservation, Philadelphia Museum of Art;
Hugh Miller, FAIA retired Senior Historical Architect for The National Park Service.

Fellow conservators

John Greenwalt Lee and
Richard Wolbers
often collaborate on significant projects, such as, The Maryland State House, and The Vice-Presidential Ceremonial Suite (from parquet floors of Cuban Mahogany to blast windows).

In 2007, they joined forces with Tim Macfarlane (engineer of the Apple Glass Cube in New York City), Glass,Ltd. UK to use glass as the infill material on an archaeological reconstruction.

Phillips' clients have included: The Smithsonian Institution, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The National Trust, The National Society of Colonial Dames in America, National Capital Region of The U.S. General Services Administration.