Homsey Architects, Inc.

The architectural firm of Victorine & Samuel Homsey, Inc. was founded in Wilmington, Del. in 1935. It was one of the first husband-and-wife architectural practices in the U.S.

Samuel Eldon Homsey (1904-1994) began his practice in Boston after graduating from MIT in 1926. On April 27, 1929, he married Victorine du Pont (1900-1998). Victorine had studied at the Cambridge School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, a non-degree granting institution run by faculty of the Harvard Graduate School of Design, which would not then admit women.

In 1935 the Homseys moved from Boston to Wilmington, where the family connection assured a regular pool of potential clients. They were probably the first architects in Delaware to work in the International Style, and a house they designed was selected by the Museum of Modern Art as a representative example for a 1938 Paris exhibition. However, the tastes of many of their clients ran in the opposite direction.

The Homseys' work included commissions from du Pont family members and du Pont-sponored institutions such as Longwood Gardens and the Winterthur Museum. Perhaps their most important out-of-state commission was for the ambassador's residence in Tehran, Iran. Mrs. Homsey was also a skilled landscape architect and executed a number of designs for local gardens. Both Homseys were elected fellows of the American Institute of Archtects. Samuel served as a visiting critic at MIT, the University of Virginia, Cornell and the Rhode Island School of Design. Victorine was active in preservation issues and a member of the U.S. Fine Arts Commission. Both Homseys retired from active practice in 1979, and the office has been continued by their second son Eldon.