Richard Olsen is a Carmel, California-based independent architectural historian. A project manager-researcher-editor-photographer and an author, Richard brings an integrated, cross-disciplinary approach to the processes of conceptualizing and producing documentation. In his three decades in architecture-and-design media, first in New York, then in Los Angeles, and now in Carmel, Richard’s held positions including:
Senior Editor, Architecture, FORBES, where in 2023 he launched its Architecture + Design department, initially leading a research-and-evaluation study of American architecture’s current state of residential practice, in all 50 states, before ideating and directing all subject-outreach and submitted-project-evaluation processes; selecting and recruiting the program’s advisory board; adjudicating its national “top architects and designers” lists; and authoring all articles. Earlier, Richard was Senior Architecture Editor, ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST (Paige Rense-Noland, Editor-in-Chief); Senior Editor, Architecture + Design, ABRAMS BOOKS; Architecture Editor, RIZZOLI INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATIONS; and Director, ARCHITECTS & DESIGNERS BOOK SERVICE/Doubleday Select. In an editorial-marketing capacity at AMAZON, in Seattle, Richard oversaw the book divisions of Arts & Photography; Home & Garden; and Travel.
Across these roles, Richard’s primary area of study and publication has been the American house. To that end, he’s originated/edited many books on the subject, including:
The Abrams Guide to American House Styles by William Morgan
The Abrams Guide to Period Styles for Interiors by Judith Gura
Modernism Reborn by Michael Webb
Craftsman Style by Robert Winter
The Houses of Greenwich Village by Kevin Murphy
The Ranch House by Alan Hess
The Queen Anne House by Janet Foster
The Colonial Revival House by Richard Guy Wilson
Bungalow Nation by Diane Maddex
The American Townhouse by Kevin Murphy
The Hawaiian House Now by Malia Mattoch-McManus
Malibu: A century of living by the sea by Julius Shulman
Great Houses of Texas by Lisa Germany
Cottages by the Sea by Linda Paul
As an author, the American house has also been the focus, and Richard’s books, on rustic and countercultural domestic architecture, have been reviewed widely, including by the New York Journal of Books; the New York Times; The Wall Street Journal; Time; Architectural Record; Architects Newspaper; and Architectural Digest.
A photographic contributor to architecture books and magazines since 2002, Richard also maintains an extensive archive, including, since 2004, an ongoing research project, an historical inventory of the residences of Big Sur, California. Currently, he is finalizing a book based on that Big Sur documentation.
