FIRM HISTORY Firm History – A New Chapter Richard M. Monahon, Jr., AIA, Architects has provided award winning services in architecture and historic preservation planning in northern New England since 1975. Our staff, including LEED certified architects and design professionals, has newly refined our skills in sustainable design which is responsive to a changing environment. Looking back, we are proud of what RMMA has accomplished. Looking ahead, we are entering a new chapter in the firm’s history. On January 27th, 2013, Rick Monahon, founder and principal, and his wife Duffy, also a most integral part of the firm, lost their lives in a car accident. After more than 40 years of practice and community involvement on many, many levels, their loss has left an enormous hole in both Peterborough and the much wider surrounding region. Their long established and carefully built practice will carry forward, with David Drasba taking over ownership of the firm, as was Rick’s intention upon his eventual retirement. Prior to joining Monahon Architects, David had 15 years’ experience managing his own firms, both in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. He has a broad range of experience that includes academic, commercial, municipal and historic restoration projects. Sharing the belief that a society's architecture is the highest expression of its cultural condition, RMMA values the past as a context for the next generation of architectural expression. RMMA is interested equally in the issues of community growth through preservation, adaptation, and infill, and the design of the new built environment. Architecture serves the needs of our society by visualizing the built form for the functional requirements, inventing the systems of use, and organizing the elements for constructability. It also reflects society's values through the recollection of history and culture. RMMA believes that the Art of Architecture is inextricably linked with our society's aspirations and cultural heritage, as well as our functional needs. Architecture, at its best, enables people to communicate, work and live better. RMMA has worked with many municipalities on schools, libraries, town halls, fire stations and police stations. For the State of New Hampshire we designed an office building and a vocational/technical college building. Preservation restoration design has long been a significant aspect of this practice. We have done all the restoration architecture for Historic Harrisville whose holdings include the core textile mill buildings in this National Historic landmark. We have also worked for the State of New Hampshire on numerous Community Development Block Grant renovations of municipal projects. Recent preservation projects have include the restoration of libraries, town halls and historical societies. For private clients, we have a broad range of experience designing commercial and institutional projects including: libraries, an art center, archival/museums, schools, theaters, office buildings, churches, a small shopping mall, educational centers and housing. Many of the housing units have been for young physically challenged adults and were designed to enable them to live independently. Over the years, our projects have won numerous AIA and Preservation awards for design excellence for their sympathetic handling of new construction within the context of existing historic buildings and the vernacular architecture of the region.