VINCENT "VINNY" T. PETRARCA (1972-)

Vincent Petrarca is the North Carolina partner of Tonic Design with Seattle partner Heather Washburn, a former classmate and employee of Frank Harmon Architect.

Petrarca was born in Brooklyn and went to high school in Charlotte.  He started early in the architecture field with an internship at Gunn Hardaway.  He then attended the NCSU School of Design, receiving a BEDA in 1994 and Bachelors of Architecture in 1999.  He worked for Frank Harmon from 1993 to 2003 and left to start Tonic Design and later Tonic Construction, both focused on building significant works of architecture.

His first independent project the "Honeymoon Cottage" which won  AIANC and South Atlantic Region AIA awards and was featured in several magazines.  In 2006, he built a house designed for and by internationally acclaimed architect Turan Duda.

2004 - Petrarca's own house, the romantic "Honeymoon Cottage" overlooking Crabtree Creek, 4219 Arbutus Drive, Raleigh. 1700 square feet.  Cost: an amazing $140,000.  The sleek, modern kitchen was constructed for about $1,700, using an IKEA cabinet system and concrete and Galvalume steel countertops.    Photos by James West.

2004 - The Rod McCowan House, 222 Tennwood Court, Durham.  This incredible home took four years from start to finish and is now one of the largest examples of modern design in the Triangle.  It took so long due to numerous design changes plus squabbles between the architects.  Frank Harmon basically designed the exterior.  Petrarca and Charles Holden, both of whom by then had left Harmon's firm, did the rest of the project.  Petrarca’s Tonic Construction and Sigmon Construction built it.  Four bedrooms, 6456 square feet, four full bathrooms, 2 half baths. 

2006 - The John and Molly Chiles Residence, 4217 Laurel Ridge Drive, Raleigh.  Petrarca and Charles Holden designed this unique home on the steel frame of a previous residence left in disrepair for 15 years.  James Franklin Taylor, a product design graduate of the NCSU School of Design, built the original frame and house in the 1970’s with his buddy Ligon Flynn.  Taylor constantly changed things, taking apart whole sections and rebuilding.  He even had a room rather like a hovercraft that would "float" around the steel frame.  Most of the time, however, the house was in tarps.  It was constantly under construction from Taylor's tinkering.  Taylor decided to move to the Bahamas and lived in a pretty great Frank Harmon house.  After Taylor's death, his wife sold the land to the Chiles.  Petrarca did the construction.

3,800 square feet on 1.83 acres.  Structural Engineer, Richard Kaydos-Daniels.  Second photo by Leilani Carter.  Other photos by James West.

 

2006 - The Kevin and Melissa Collins Residence, 3920 Woodbine Road, Raleigh. Designed to create a private courtyard with views to a pond.  3814 square feet on 2.15 acres.  Won an AIA Triangle award in 2007.

2008 - The Todd and Jodie Lanning Residence, 111 Rosecrans Court, Cary. 
Built for current owners, the architect's sister and brother-in-law.  Photos by James West.

2008 - The Doug and Ann Sharpe Residence, 401 Silver Hill Road, Concord MA.  Built for current owners. A renovation and reorganization of a 1960's house, bottom photo. Top three photos by Anton Grassl/Esto.

2009 - The Bobby and Kristi Walters Residence, Greenville NC.  3500 square feet.  The house integrates photovoltaic technology, solar hot water, and geothermal systems.

2009 - The Michael Rosenberg Residence, a condo at 301 West Barbee Chapel Road, Chapel Hill.   Photos by James West.

2009 (unbuilt) - The Jim Schafer Residence, South Landing Lot #6, Leasburg, NC.  Started in 2000, the house had two architects before the Schafers found Petrarca to finish the design and begin construction. 

According to Schafer: "We contracted with a fine architect, Victoria Casasco to design our home. We became aware of Victoria when I was thinking about setting up a branch of my audio business in Seaside, Florida where Victoria had been the town architect. After about a year into the process, she received an appointment to teach at Yale, and had to leave our project.  On to architect number two. This was Jennifer Luce from San Diego who over a three year process, designed a beautiful home for us, nicknamed the “bassoon house." However, for reasons I need not go into here, the home was not built and we went into arbitration with Jennifer which was very costly, both emotionally and financially. I should say here that it is very difficult for me to be mad at anyone and I still have a great deal of respect for her work.  With our award from the arbitration, we asked a third firm to design our home, Tonic Design. The principal of Tonic, Vinny Petrarca, just presented to my wife and me a beautiful design and we cannot wait to get started with the construction."

2010 - The Smart/Stell Residence, 5409 Pelham Road, Durham, now under construction on the site of an 1960's ranch (bottom photo).  2400 square feet.