Foundations: Our Newest Fellow, Michael J. Hanrahan, FAIA, Shares his Foundation Story
I was born, raised and came of age in Hanover Township, New Jersey, specifically the Cedar Knolls section of town. I vividly remember my multi-generational childhood home, my neighborhood, my friends, and the people and places that comprised my community. We walked to school. After church on Sundays, I would run to the local newsstand to pick up the Sunday newspaper for my Dad, and I was allowed to purchase baseball cards with the change. We could tell where our friends were by the pile of bikes on someone’s front yard. There was always a Whiffle Ball or Nerf Football game going at the park or somebody’s backyard. Long before the world of playdates and participation trophies, we were always outside playing, exploring, and going on adventures.
We seemed to know everyone, and everyone seemed to know us.
The town was more than a backdrop to my life; somehow, it is integral to who I am today. I delivered newspapers. Later, I was a cashier at the local ShopRite. I remember the location of my first kiss and later my first heartbreak. Somehow, Cedar Knolls was more than just my Gen X nostalgia. It was later, while I was attending college at NJIT, that people and assignments challenged my views of the world. I remember assignments asking me what type of projects I wanted to work on in my soon-to-be career- I gravitated towards community-based structures such as municipal buildings, libraries, police stations or the like. I had a friend accuse me of being too “small town,” as if that was meant to be derogatory or something. These experiences helped crystallize my thinking about the power and sense of place that is Hanover Township, and, more broadly, the relationship people and spatial settings have with one another. Our places and communities hold our stories, our memories, whether they be social, historical, cultural, ecological or physical. These stories contribute to the way we perceive places—transforming mere places into a home, a neighborhood, or a community. They influence what we value, what we respect, and the emotional bonds we have in a place.
It’s been said that old places serve as reference points for measuring, refreshing, and recalibrating our identity over time. Somehow, I knew or figured out that I wanted my work to be part of that continuum. I wanted to preserve, rehabilitate, or adapt old structures to tell our collective stories, not only to provide educational opportunities, but to create new experiences and spark imagination. I also wanted to create new structures that reflect the values, ideals, culture, and history of communities, ensuring the legacy of the past continues to influence the present and the future. My advice to emerging professionals, specifically recent graduates, is that you have time. I was intentional in my job search as I graduated from college. I researched (pre-Google) firms I wanted to work for, whose work I respected, and I targeted those initial four firms, interviewing at each and ultimately accepting an offer at Clarke Caton Hintz, where I am happily a Principal today. You might be surprised by how beneficial a targeted and strategic approach to employment can be.
By now, you have probably guessed I have a certain sentimentality. I am attached to old buildings and places and the feelings and memories they provide. I have been blessed and had the opportunity, thanks to Clarke Caton Hintz, to work on some notable projects. But my favorites? My favorites are those projects that most benefit their local communities or where I have a strong personal connection. My in-laws are proud Patersonians, so the opportunity to work on Lambert Castle or Hinchliffe Stadium perhaps gives me a little extra credibility in my family. I currently live in Readington, New Jersey, where we restored the Eversole Hall House, a circa 1790s home of a shoemaker and now an integral part of our town’s municipal complex, as well as the curriculum for the local schools. Also, at a most full circle moment, we have begun preservation planning and stabilization work for the Samuel Tuttle House in Hanover Township, hopefully one day seeing this currently vacant structure come alive with the history and stories of my hometown.
