Reviews of Ellen Cassilly Architect (Architect)

MJ Sharp

I had a general contractor I was excited to work with already lined up for a room addition but took advantage of Ellen's "consultation" services. I'm sure most of Ellen's work is large projects, but I wanted to encourage folks with more modest undertakings or who just want to get an idea of how she would approach things that her consultation services are available to you as well. It's wonderful to talk over what you're thinking of doing with someone so knowledgable. Even an hour or two of walking, talking, looking, and sketching (don't worry—Ellen does that part) is very helpful. In my experience, Ellen applauds your best instincts and gently saves you from your worst ones, and all with warmth, openness, and a sense of humor.

Lori Tarrant

"Sounds" like she does a good job, but appears you need to have a rather large job before she will help you. 50K wasn't worth her time. Just so you know.

David Shamlin

I highly recommend Ellen Cassilly Architect! Ellen and her team provided design services for a major home renovation my family and I undertook. They also took the time we needed to understand design choices we needed to make as well as their recommendations; they are very experienced and highly creative. They anticipated and solved numerous problems prior to construction. Many of their recommendations saved us on construction costs. They collaborated very effectively with our contractor. Their work exceeded our expectations--and we had high expectations. I would work with Ellen Cassilly Architect on other projects and highly recommend their services to others.

Elaine Funaro

When we approached Ellen about our vision for a rebuild of a corner of our mid-century modern house in Durham, she spent a lot of time listening to our desires and ideas, and patiently worked through them with numerous computer drawings realized by her assistant, Meredith, and revised many times. The process helped us see possibilities that were not evident before, made our ideas more precise, and she devised solutions that fit the existing house seamlessly. The result was that our combined vision exceeded all expectations. Visitors are always amazed at how organic the original structure and renovation blend together. The contractor she recommended, AG builders, did a great job and were very pleasant to work with. The entire project took about a year: half planning, half construction. And we were able to live comfortably in the house while major work was done. We still wake in the morning amazed that we live in a space so nicely integrated to the surrounding gardens, use of light, and supportive of our lifestyle. THANK YOU ELLEN!

Stacey Poston

Ellen Cassilly and her team members including Meredith Pittman are true professionals. They made the project seamless by coordinating with the Engineer, Contractor and City Inspections Department to get to the appropriate solutions in a a timely manner. Their design for our Durham restaurant GRUB is amazing and more cool than we could have ever imagined. I can't wait until we buy another commercial building so we can work with them again!

Mark Burford

It has been my pleasure to collaborate wth many talented and well trained Architects, and Ellen Cassilly and her firm are among the best. She put's her clients interests and wishes first and applies her extensive knowledge of design and building technology to beautiful effect. I recommend her services without reservsation.

Melinda Head

Ellen and her team are wonderful professionals, truly a pleasure to do business with and our preferred architectural firm. Ellen has impeccable taste, is highly talented, passionate and hard-working. She helped us take a house built in 1990 into the present, so that our home is now bright, spacious and modern. Dare I say that we have the most beautiful home on Lake Orange now, thanks to Ellen. I'd hire her again in a heartbeat.

Thomas Wolf

We hired this architect a few years ago to design a home and made a down payment of $4k for her to come up with a few high level plans based on our very specific wishes. When none of the seven plans were anywhere near what we wanted, I decided to help them get a better idea by sending them my own computer-generated design and asking them to use it as a starting point. That must have struck a nerve, because a couple weeks later we received a letter telling us that the architect didn't feel comfortable continuing the relationship because she didn't think we needed an architect but a builder. The letter was accompanied with a CD of the designs they had come up with up to that point (in other words, designs we had no interest in). But no refund of any of our $4,000! To this day, neither my wife nor I can believe that this architect took our money, produced nothing of value to us - ignoring our wishes, essentially - and then quit on us...and didn't even refund anything!