"We are always trying not to copy the past, but to interpret it and reinterpret it as artists often do," continues Stern. "Classicism is part of my DNA, although I was reared in modernism at Yale in the 1960s," he says. Early on, he was inspired by the classical work of Sir Edwin Lutyens, which culminated in the Viceroy's Palace in New Delhi. An exploration of the "shingle style" was his "first serious foray as an independent architect," he adds, noting that the late architectural historian Vincent Scully, his teacher at Yale, named the style, so prevalent in the vernacular of New England and Long Island. "It is the bedrock along the shore," he says. Having reinvigorated the style, he finds the "glass boxes" being built in the Hamptons as not offering the "strong dialogue with the sea, with the air, with the sun and shade that the shingle style has built into its DNA."

Architect Peter Pennoyer looked to Palladio, Robert Adam, and Benjamin Henry Latrobe when designing Drumlin Hall for a client in Dutchess County, New York. "I wanted to take classicism into an American version," he says. "It is unlike the plan of an English country house or Italian villa—the rooms are open." The siting was magnificent, and the house takes it name from the Drumlins, or surrounding small hills. He walked the land with the client, siting the country house on a saddle of land between a valley and a meadow. "The land suggested the siting: We wanted it with views and to look settled into the landscape."

Inspired in part by Palladio, Drumlin Hall is sited in a landscape of small hills or drumlins in Dutchess County, New York. Photo: Jonathan Wallen / Peter Pennoyer Architects: Apartments, Townhouses, Country Houses (Vendome Press) At Drumlin Hall, this upper hallway is an ode to Robert Adam and features a bust of George Washington. It is a showcase for the owner's collection of American classical furniture and Hudson River School art. Photo: Jonathan Wallen / Peter Pennoyer Architects: Apartments, Townhouses, Country Houses (Vendome Press)

Although Pennoyer thinks it's interesting to look at how 20th-century architects have approached classicism, he suggests starting at the roots. Indeed, among his most prized possessions is an 1684 edition of Vitruvius: The 10 Books on Architecture, the early bible for classicists, which he purchased, with the help of his parents, shortly after graduating Columbia. It was published in French by Claude Perrault, architect of the east facade of the Louvre. "Thomas Jefferson owned a copy of the book, and you can see it in the details at Monticello," says Pennoyer, who was majoring in French literature prior to his transfer into architecture at the suggestion of his mentor, Robert Stern, then teaching at Columbia.

A beautifully proportioned room with moldings is visceral—a delight to the eye and a wonderful experience.

Kevin Clark of Historical Concepts also looked to Palladio when designing a fresh take on the ante-bellum South inspired by Oak Alley, the famed Louisiana plantation. Serenity, as the owners named it, is sited on 30 acres along the May River, north of Savannah. He looked to Palladio for inspiration in designing the massing of the main formal spaces and then of the wings. "The clients took great comfort in the high styling and detailing," he says. He studied at Notre Dame, when he believes it was the only school offering classical training in the U.S., complimented by a year of study in Rome. "The grand staircase is a key element—a fulcrum to the house and a gathering spot," he notes. The owners like to start their entertaining there.