Photo by Steve Delaney
Deane Rykerson grew up hiking and sailing in the Hudson River Valley with a mother from Ecuador and a father from Dodge City, Kansas. While in high school, he played rock and roll and acted in the Croton Shakespeare Festival. As a founding member of Youth for Civil Rights, Deane invited Martin Luther King to speak at a fundraiser (King was too busy to attend). With a Regent's scholarship, Deane graduated from the State University at Stony Brook with a major in history. During this time, he studied for a semester in Ireland and drove a New York City taxi. On Long Island, he became involved with United Farm Workers and started a breakfast program for schoolchildren.
After graduation, Deane spent several years working and traveling the world. He worked on a railroad track gang, then learned house and boat carpentry and was Bosun on the educational sailing vessel Clearwater. After a move to the Massachusetts Berkshires, he established a woodworking business and received a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for designing and operating a solar wood drying kiln.
He then attended the Boston Architectural College and obtained a Bachelor of Architecture degree after seven years of night classes while working at several Boston architectural firms. He earned his architectural license and became active in the Boston Society of Architects, serving as Chair of the Committee on the Environment, Architects for Social Responsibility, and workshop organizer for the Historic Resources Committee. After receiving a Master of Design Studies degree at Harvard University, he started his architectural firm, Rykerson Architecture.
Moving to Kittery Point, Maine in 2002, Deane designed a sustainable house and office where he presently works. He is married to Wendy Pomeroy, landscape designer and artist, has two grown sons and a twelve year old daughter. He is presently active in the American Lighthouse Foundation and the Gundalow Company, teaches courses at the Kittery Center for Adult Education, and serves on the Kittery Foreside Design Review. He enjoys sailing, hiking, biking, making things, and playing a variety of stringed instruments.
Some of Deane Rykerson's past jobs
Dishwasher, ditch digger, musician, day camp counselor, warehouse stocker, cab driver, music system installer, health food retail clerk, railroad track worker, carpenter, sailor, boat builder, coffee picker, architectural model maker, mural restorer, cabinet maker, architect.
Deane Rykerson is presently the Preservation Architect for Kittery's:
Whaleback Lighthouse
Wood Island Life Saving Station
Wallingford Square's Fraternal Building
After graduation, Deane spent several years working and traveling the world. He worked on a railroad track gang, then learned house and boat carpentry and was Bosun on the educational sailing vessel Clearwater. After a move to the Massachusetts Berkshires, he established a woodworking business and received a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for designing and operating a solar wood drying kiln.
He then attended the Boston Architectural College and obtained a Bachelor of Architecture degree after seven years of night classes while working at several Boston architectural firms. He earned his architectural license and became active in the Boston Society of Architects, serving as Chair of the Committee on the Environment, Architects for Social Responsibility, and workshop organizer for the Historic Resources Committee. After receiving a Master of Design Studies degree at Harvard University, he started his architectural firm, Rykerson Architecture.
Moving to Kittery Point, Maine in 2002, Deane designed a sustainable house and office where he presently works. He is married to Wendy Pomeroy, landscape designer and artist, has two grown sons and a twelve year old daughter. He is presently active in the American Lighthouse Foundation and the Gundalow Company, teaches courses at the Kittery Center for Adult Education, and serves on the Kittery Foreside Design Review. He enjoys sailing, hiking, biking, making things, and playing a variety of stringed instruments.
Some of Deane Rykerson's past jobs
Dishwasher, ditch digger, musician, day camp counselor, warehouse stocker, cab driver, music system installer, health food retail clerk, railroad track worker, carpenter, sailor, boat builder, coffee picker, architectural model maker, mural restorer, cabinet maker, architect.
Deane Rykerson is presently the Preservation Architect for Kittery's:
Whaleback Lighthouse
Wood Island Life Saving Station
Wallingford Square's Fraternal Building
