Holt Architects
HOLT Architects is a privately held, 60-year-old architecture and design firm based in Ithaca, NY (with a Syracuse office) that delivers full-service architectural, interior, and sustainable design (LEED, WELL, Passive House) primarily to Upstate New York healthcare systems, colleges and universities, housing developers, and commercial clients.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1960
- HeadquartersIthaca, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Holt Architects does
HOLT Architects, P.C. is a privately held architecture and design firm founded around 1960 and headquartered at 619 W State Street in Ithaca, New York, with a second office in Syracuse. The firm operates as an integrated professional services practice rather than a modular platform, with practice sectors organized around healthcare, higher education, housing, and commercial work. Its core offering spans feasibility studies, master planning, programming, full architectural design, interior design, construction administration, sustainable design consulting (LEED, WELL, Passive House, net-zero), and environmental graphics and wayfinding. Notable technical capabilities include four-story vertical expansions over active hospitals (Highland Patient Tower), large-scale adaptive reuse (Cayuga Health at Ithaca Mall, 54,000 sf retail-to-medical conversion), and Phius-certified multifamily Passive House construction (Village Grove).
HOLT employs between 51 and 100 staff across two offices and serves enterprise clients including healthcare systems (Highland Hospital, Cayuga Medical Center, Roswell Park, University of Rochester Medical Center, SUNY Upstate), colleges and universities (Cornell, SUNY Plattsburgh), federally qualified health centers, housing developers, municipalities, financial institutions, and cultural organizations. Revenue is generated through professional service fees negotiated on a project-by-project basis, with clients acquired via direct business development, consultative sales, RFQ/RFP responses, and long-term repeat relationships rather than intermediated channels.
The firm differentiates on three primary vectors: (1) deep, credentialed expertise in sustainable and evidence-based design, with WELL, LEED, and Evidence-Based Design accredited staff; (2) over six decades of regional brand equity in Upstate New York, reinforced by 12 consecutive Best Place to Work honors and a dense stack of AIA, NYSERDA, and NYSAFAH awards; and (3) a sector-specialized portfolio that makes HOLT a low-risk choice for regulated healthcare and institutional clients. Ownership is retained by firm leadership, including President A. Quay Thompson and Principals Steve Hugo, Kelly Maher, and Paul Levesque II, with David Taube serving as President Emeritus; no external private equity or venture capital backing has been disclosed.
Holt Architects firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Holt Architects
- Legal name
- HOLT Architects
- Website
- https://holt.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1960
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- HOLT Architects is a privately held, 60-year-old architecture and design firm based in Ithaca, NY (with a Syracuse office) that delivers full-service architectural, interior, and sustainable design (LEED, WELL, Passive House) primarily to Upstate New York healthcare systems, colleges and universities, housing developers, and commercial clients.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Holt Architects industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Architectural Services
- NAICS
- Architectural Services (54131), Architectural Services (541310), Interior Design Services (54141)
- SIC
- Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Architectural Design Services (BPAHAKAA)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Interior Design Services (BPAHAKAB), Space Planning & Workplace Design (BPAHAKAI)
Keywords
Where Holt Architects is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Ithaca
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Holt Architects business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Architectural Design Services: Full-service architectural design including feasibility studies, master planning, programming, interior design, sustainable design consulting, and construction administration. Revenue is generated through professional service fees on a project-by-project basis.
- Environmental Graphics and Wayfinding: Environmental graphics, wayfinding, and branding support to enhance the user experience of spaces. Offered as an additional service to architectural projects.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels4 records
Holt Architects product offering
Product offeringCore offering
HOLT Architects is a professional services firm providing full-service architectural design across healthcare, higher education, housing, and commercial sectors. The firm delivers feasibility studies, master planning, programming, interior design, sustainable design consulting (LEED, WELL, Passive House, net-zero), environmental graphics/wayfinding, and construction administration. Projects are delivered on a fee-for-service basis through direct client engagement across New York State and the Northeast U.S.
Product overview
HOLT Architects is an award-winning architecture and design firm offering comprehensive architectural services across healthcare, higher education, housing, and commercial sectors. The firm operates as a single integrated practice rather than a platform with modules—each service area (healthcare, higher education, housing, commercial) represents a practice sector staffed by specialized teams. Core services include architectural design, interior design, sustainable design consulting (LEED, WELL, Passive House), construction administration, and environmental graphics/wayfinding. The firm is headquartered in Ithaca, NY with a second office in Syracuse, NY, and serves clients throughout New York State and the Northeast.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Healthcare Architecture Services
Quantifiable outcome
- Village Grove reduces heating and cooling energy use by up to 80% compared with conventional construction through Passive House certification
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Holt Architects
Customer profileNamed customers22 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Holt Architects technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature1 record
Holt Architects partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.
- Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services (INHS)flagshipHOLT Architects partnered with INHS on Village Grove, an award-winning 71-unit mixed-income affordable housing development. This project was named NYSAFAH's Upstate New York Affordable Housing Project of the Year and achieved Passive House certification. The partnership demonstrates shared commitment to high-performance, sustainable, and equitable community development.
- Cayuga HealthcoreHOLT Architects has an extensive partnership with Cayuga Health, completing multiple projects including the Ithaca Mall adaptive reuse (54,000 sf), Cayuga Park MOB (65,000 sf), Southwest Addition, Surgery expansion, and various other healthcare facilities. The relationship spans multiple years and projects.
Scale indicators2 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Holt Architects competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- HOK: Large international architecture firm with broad healthcare, education, and workplace practice areas. Comparable as an incumbent competing for the same institutional clients as HOLT but at a much larger scale and broader geography.
Direct peers
- Payette: Boston-based architecture firm with nationally recognized healthcare and science practice. Comparable to HOLT for academic medical center projects and serves many of the same type of health-system clients.
- CannonDesign: National architecture firm with deep healthcare and higher education practices and a strong sustainability/evidence-based design ethos. Comparable to HOLT because both compete for health-system and university clients, with CannonDesign being the larger-scale version of HOLT's go-to-market.
- EwingCole: Philadelphia architecture firm specializing in healthcare, higher education, and sports facilities. Comparable to HOLT for hospital systems, medical office buildings, and university clients in the Northeast corridor.
- Clark Nexsen: Architecture and engineering firm with healthcare, education, and civic practices across the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast. Comparable size and sector mix to HOLT, with deeper engineering integration.
- HGA (Hammel, Green and Abrahamson): Mid-size architecture, engineering, and interior design firm serving healthcare, higher education, and cultural markets. Comparable to HOLT in size, sector mix, and integrated design-services approach.
- HKS: Architecture firm widely recognized as a healthcare architecture leader. Directly comparable to HOLT for hospital, medical office, and health-system clients and competes for similar RFPs in the same segment.
- Ballinger: Architecture and engineering firm with deep healthcare and higher education practices on the East Coast. Directly comparable to HOLT for academic medical center and university campus work.
- EYP / EYP Architecture & Engineering: Healthcare, higher education, and science architecture firm with strong Northeast presence. Comparable to HOLT because both pursue integrated medical center and university projects with a focus on complex renovations and evidence-based design.
- Perkins&Will: Global architecture practice known for sustainability leadership (LEED, WELL, Living Building) and major healthcare and education portfolio. Very comparable to HOLT in design philosophy and sector emphasis, with HOLT operating as a regional mirror of Perkins&Will's national platform.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Holt Architects social profiles
Digital presenceHolt Architects financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Holt Architects leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles14 records
Holt Architects funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Holt Architects M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Holt Architects
What does Holt Architects do?
HOLT Architects is a professional services firm providing full-service architectural design across healthcare, higher education, housing, and commercial sectors. The firm delivers feasibility studies, master planning, programming, interior design, sustainable design consulting (LEED, WELL, Passive House, net-zero), environmental graphics/wayfinding, and construction administration. Projects are delivered on a fee-for-service basis through direct client engagement across New York State and the Northeast U.S.
Is Holt Architects a public or private company?
Holt Architects is a private company. It is classified as management employee owned and is currently operating.
When was Holt Architects founded?
Holt Architects was founded in 1960. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Holt Architects based?
Holt Architects is headquartered in Ithaca, United States, in the North America region.
How does Holt Architects make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Architectural Design Services are the primary driver. The others are environmental Graphics and Wayfinding.
Who are Holt Architects's main competitors?
HOK is listed as a broad incumbent. Direct peers are Payette, CannonDesign, EwingCole, Clark Nexsen, HGA (Hammel, Green and Abrahamson), HKS, Ballinger, EYP / EYP Architecture & Engineering and Perkins&Will.
Does Holt Architects have an API?
No public API is recorded for Holt Architects.
What industry is Holt Architects in?
Holt Architects's product category is Architectural Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAHAKAA, Architectural Design Services, with a secondary code of BPAHAKAB, Interior Design Services. Its NAICS code is 54131 and its SIC code is 8700.