Early Roots
David Porter was born with his feet firmly planted in concrete and the construction business. His father initially started out in the concrete and excavating business and David was on jobsites before he was out of diapers, running a CAT D-8 bulldozer at the age of five (with some help from dad to reach the control peddles).
David and father on loader circa 1963
During the early part of David’s elementary school days, his father and mother changed from concrete contracting to custom homebuilding. David was actively involved in all aspects of building houses.
Hands O
n Experience
By fourth grade, David was mixing mortar as well as hauling brick and block around the houses for his father’s masonry contractor and friend, Harold Jordon. Harold would build the foundations and brick fronts on weekends, and David would be there by 7 AM to work side-by-side with him.
By age 11, David was given his own masonry tools and was laying brick and block on the houses. By age 13, he was proficient enough to be laying 400 brick per day.
David operated large dump trucks (oops, even before he had a driver’s license), bulldozers, front-end loaders, and backhoes. He also did carpentry work, poured thousands of yards of concrete with his father in building foundations, garage slabs, patios, sidewalks, and driveways for the houses they were building.
The Vision to Draw
David knew at an early age that he wanted to become an architect. From sixth grade on, he was intrigued watching his mother draw up house plans. It was then he too began drawing up plans and has been ever since.
The construction work David chose to engage in at a very early age has provided him with an unequalled background of experience to draw upon in his daily architectural practice. This practical, hands-on experience was not accumulated from books, studies, college, or the sanitary experience of working in an architectural office. It was achieved by “doing”. David’s background and current architectural practice shows that.
Education
David Porter holds a Bachelor of Architecture Degree from the University of Maryland’s School of Architecture.
Licensing
David Porter is a licensed architect in 22 U.S. states (11 are currently inactive).
The firm was founded in 1981. By choice, the firm will remain a one-person office to provide all clients with individual attention and the experience of David Porter. All work is completed by computer using DataCAD software for architecture, created by an architect.
Happy Reunion
David graduated from college with a degree in architecture, worked the required apprenticeship with an architectural firm, passed the licensing exams, and had his own architectural practice with a couple of employees, all by the ripe young age of 26. That was 13 years after David laid the last brick, working side-by-side with his father’s mason, Harold Jordon.
On one of David’s historic preservation and renovation projects in center city Philadelphia, David received a call from the superintendent that the masonry foreman wanted to see him at the job because he had some questions about the masonry work.
David wore a dark blue suit that day because he hadn’t planned on making a visit to a dirty and dusty jobsite. As he approached the jobsite trailer, out walked the masonry foreman on that job, Harold Jordon, the mason who 13 years prior had taught David all he knew about masonry. Harold had seen the title block on the job drawings and that the architect was David Porter. He thought, what were the odds that they might be one and the same kid, “David Porter” that he taught masonry to many years ago?
What a surprise reunion! David and Harold stood in the street next to a worker mixing mortar by hand in a mortar box. Harold kidded David that he probably wouldn’t remember how to mix the stuff. David handed Harold his briefcase, took the hoe from the worker, and proceeded to complete the mixing of the mortar… with no lumps and not a spot of mortar on the dark blue suit.
The grin on Harold’s face said it all!
A Note of Gratitude from David
Many thanks to Mom and Dad for the opportunities.