Three Decades of Design: David Sharff

In Back Bay, historical preservation is top of mind for many homeowners and commissions, but behind original moldings are interiors with a unique modernity that architect David Sharff has spent his career influencing. This year, Sharff celebrates 30 years of residential design and home renovations across Massachusetts. MyBoston magazine sat down with Sharff to discuss his career, Boston architecture, and the historical influence of Back Bay brownstones on home design.

What inspired your start in architecture?

I really enjoyed studying art and I’ve always enjoyed history. I’ve just been curious about different cultures and socio-economic times, and I feel like that so influences our housing. I like to bring a lens of updated, 21st-century sensibility to old homes and make spaces work for the way we use
them now.

What were some of your pivotal projects?

When my practice was in Medfield, I got to work on an old Medfield house. That was one pivotal moment for me. It wasn’t necessarily the biggest project, but it was an introduction to taking an old house and adding onto it, having it all blend seamlessly.

The next was getting my first commission in the city in 2007. Adding that project type was really pivotal because then I could go after more of Back Bay. Interior architecture is another passion of mine. Working within the confines of a footprint is really an incredible challenge for me in trying to transform something.

Does the firm do more urban or suburban renovations?

I’m still doing a balance of things. I have strong pulls into the suburbs still but I’m also trying to grow the practice that’s working in the city. I started working in the city in 2022, so it’s been a reintroduction process into making connections here.

How have your relationships developed through the years?

It was so much easier to have people come to me, but in the last few years, I’ve really enjoyed reaching out and meeting other designers, architects, and builders. Having 30 years of experience has relaxed me in terms of worrying less about what others are doing and going ahead and doing what I want to do.

How do you describe your architectural style and how has it evolved?

Building technology has really been changing, and so there are things I have to keep up with, but I really feel like my designs are consistently sympathetic to the neighborhood that they’re in or the client’s vision. I also want to make spaces that are timeless and calm. That’s the kind of inner lens I have on it, and I don’t think that’s changed.

There’s an Italian saying “sprezzatura,” which is the art of taking something complicated and making it look like there was no effort involved. I feel like that’s how I approach architecture. I’m trying to make it look like it was always that way. I think the trick is being sensitive to what’s there. The architectural term for it is working within the context of the house or the neighborhood, so that’s always been important to me.

How do you balance your design goals with the client’s and the context of the house?

We go from the big picture and work inwards. I let my clients share their ideas, and then we work together to edit them. If I see it going off the rails, I’ll sort of reign them in, but I’ve learned that there are some things you just can’t force on people because they want to have ownership over their project. I kind of see it as a superpower—mentoring my clients in terms of making good choices while honoring the decisions they make and helping them navigate what can be a tricky kind of experience.

What makes Back Bay unique from a design perspective?

Each house or brownstone is so different from the next, but they all use similar parts to make them connect as a whole block. It’s just so interesting to see how parts were used back in the 1850s to the 1880s to really make these individual homes and to see how things are different yet the same. If you’re lucky, you can find a house that hasn’t been badly remodeled and a lot of those details are still here.

Are clients leaning more historic or modern?

I think it’s probably shifted. People were interested in having very traditional details in these houses, and then, in the past decade or so, there’s been this push to create more modern designs.

In Back Bay it’s harder to make those changes. However, when you’re dealing with a historic property, mostly the regulation is on the outside of the house, and that doesn’t mean that on the inside you can’t create a different feel.

How has Boston’s architecture evolved?

People love Boston because it’s historic and it has a really livable size and scale to it, but they are thirsty for the modern architecture they might find in a bigger city. It’s important to balance that. There is this mindset to make the Seaport the modern part of Boston but there is no anchor to the rest of the city, and that’s what we want to avoid here in Back Bay. I think we want to work hard to have it feel like it is anchored but not get too mired into the history when you get inside the building. There you can let yourself be a little adventurous.

How might it evolve in the future?

Technology is important and energy technology has to find its way into an old structure without interfering with the historic feel. There has to be a way to live in the modern era and be able to update your house, hopefully with solar energy somehow. Other parts of the state and country have to deal with that, and it’s been hard to do here in a neighborhood that’s sort of controlled by historic commissions.

What excites you most about the future of Boston architecture?

I love to travel and to see how architecture exists in other cultures. What’s most exciting to me is how I can bring back some of those ideas to Boston, whether it’s a color or a type of tile or the way spaces relate to one another.

What thoughts have come up for you as you reflect on 30 years?

Mainly, I’m just grateful. All the clients I’ve had and the builders and designers I’ve worked with have contributed to the projects that have gotten me here. Thirty years goes fast when you love what you do.

Julia Badders writes about culture and people for MyBoston magazine and other publications.

Photograph by Claire Vail