A VIEW FROM THE QUAD I NEWS
Philip Norkeliunas ’89 HISTORIC PRESERVATIONIST—CITIZEN OF THE WORLD BY MARIA BUTEUX READE
As a young boy, Philip Norkeliunas spent hours in the Vassar College library, courtesy of his mother’s alumna library card, poring over architecture and decorative arts books. “I’ve always been captivated by the stories of the immigrants who came through Ellis Island, the dedicated craftsmen who shared their skills working with iron, stone, wood, and brick.” His passion for preserving and restoring American architecture, with a particular focus on the Beaux Arts period of 1870 to 1930, evolved from growing up in Hyde Park, New York, home to historic estates such as Springwood, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s lifelong home; the Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill; Vanderbilt Mansion; and Ferncliff, the Astors’ estate in Rhinebeck. “I grew up in a home where language and travel were strongly emphasized. My father was a professor of Russian language and literature and world history at Marist College from 1963 to 2000. My mother won a Fulbright which allowed my family to live in Europe for a period in the 1970s. Seeing Versailles as a young boy surely gave me delusions of grandeur,” he laughs. Norkeliunas studied French at Trinity-Pawling and spent a high school summer in France. While at St. Lawrence University, he returned to France for his junior year. “Living abroad and speaking French and Russian opened my eyes to a whole new world, one that continues to engage me today.” Immediately after St. Lawrence, he pursued his Master’s in Historic Preservation of Architecture at Columbia University. “Robert A.M. Stern, the renowned architect, was our program director. He was a demanding 14 TRINIT Y-PAWLING MAGA ZINE
teacher but pushed us to excellence.” Norkeliunas became project manager restoring two Beaux Arts mansions, one on Fifth Avenue across from the Metropolitan Museum and Blairsden, a 38-room country estate in Peapack, New Jersey. “I was essentially living at Downton Abbey but playing all the roles and shouldering the duties myself!” That property sold in 2012, and Norkeliunas is currently restoring a historic house in Portugal. Norkeliunas gained Lithuanian citizenship in 2015. “My father was born in Lithuania on the Russian border. He and his family were rounded up and sent to a forced labor camp in Germany. Mercifully, they survived and immigrated to the U.S. in 1949.” “Having Lithuanian citizenship allows me to be an E.U. citizen and live anywhere in Europe now. My father spoke so poetically about the beauty of his homeland, the forests and coasts. I’ve fallen in love with the culture and history, and I’m spending this July in a language immersion class at Vilnius University.” Norkeliunas admits he lives an unfathomable life at times. “I was educated beautifully at home, and Trinity-Pawling nurtured my confidence. I’ve been privileged to live and work in London, Venice, France, the Bahamas, India, as well as New York, New Jersey, and Florida. As a global citizen, I know the value of graceful communication, the importance of learning and respecting the vast histories of the countries where I travel.” Norkeliunas has served on the Trinity-Pawling Board of Trustees since 2016.