As a native- born and raised in Seattle and a graduate of the University of Washington's highly-regarded School of Architecture, I thoroughly understand the climate and other localized considerations we home designers must take into account. Eastern and mid-Western styles- many with wide white trim- are usually out of place here on the West Coast. A more expansive connection with nature than that glimpsed through smaller "stock" windows is needed to enjoy what's outside and to bring a feeling of spaciousness to the interior. A hallmark of "NorthWest Architecture"- Island or otherwise- is exposed natural wood framing with lots of job-built "stopped-in" windows bringing in the outside view and/or garden. The resulting effect is akin to that of our modern cars with the building envelope being either solid or transparent. This is in contrast to the usual ordinary building practice of framing a big box with cut-out openings limited by the sizes of often expensive and usually overly complicated stock windows.
The San Juan Islands have been an important place in my practice. As part-timers for nearly forty years on Lopez Island's Kings Point, we built (with our own hands) our shingled "cottage" (shown here) which I later remodeled with skilled local builders into what's now an upscale place for the people to whom we sold. During these years I designed a number of other homes on Lopez and many of the other SJ Islands as shown on the following pages of this my WebSite.
Below is the beamed Living Room of the Lett Residence, Kings Point. looking at Deadman's Island which is at the South end of Cattle Pass.
Alterations and Additions have long been an important part of my practice. While I've done many new home projects starting from the ground up, taking an existing home and improving it is very satisfying. Our own home as originally designed by UW Architecture classmate Hawley Dudley on the South end of Mercer Island is a case in point. This was a "tear-down" which we saved from the demolition crew. We've completely rebuilt it as well as restored the half acre garden. The picture below shows our Living Room with what we added- Extension B. (noted on the Floor Plan below)
These pictures show the "stopped-in" glass windows mentioned above. There's no need to pay for complicated manufactured windows when local glass dealers can simply install efficient insulated units. 
the Master Bedrm Extension A looking out into the private garden.
Below- The Patty and Jerry home when first completed in 1955, then- as it is today.
Before we bought it, there were 8 owners. In terrible shape, it was a tear-down. 
The mature landscaping was yet another big advantage of our buying a '50s home although we had to remodel that at the same time we reworked the home- starting with a new "torch-down" roof. 
Decorative Railing by son Steve Gropp Salamander Forge, Orcas Island, Washington
Click here: Salamander Forge, Inc Home - Exquisite metal and wood artwork
While I had extensive early experience in a number of big offices doing large projects, I found I preferred working with families doing single-family custom homes. That's why I specialize in modernist residential architecture out in the far NorthWest corner of the United States. I've long been based on Mercer Island which is in Lake Washington just East of Seattle and West of Kirkland, Bellevue, Issaquah and Renton. Having done many projects over the years on this unique island city of 22,000 citizens in the middle of Seattle's three million metropolis, I've become highly experienced in dealing with the City of Mercer Island's rather stringent building requirements- (See a Client's Letter (click) attesting to this). This is an extremely important consideration in choosing an architect to help you in any building or home remodeling on Mercer Island- or anywhere else. And "Green Building" techniques have long been an important part of my practice. My varied experience specializing in custom home design for individual clients makes me especially effective in helping you achieve the home you and your family need. My well-detailed homes are truly "Craftsman" in spirit- using the best of old ways with all the new tools available to build an efficient "modernist" home. I'm a "hands-on" architect having spent much time in the field as well as at my drawing board. It's essential that any residential designer know how to do any of the jobs that it takes to build his creations. An example of this: a JG-built round deck on one of our MI homes.
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Mercer Island architect Jerry Gropp specializes in NORTHWEST modern along with “green architecture,” a popular blend these days. He and his wife, Patty, live in an updated “50s” Island home saved from demolition a number of years ago. Its 2,400 square feet on a half-acre on the South end includes a mature, also-restored garden.
If you live in a home built in the 40s-60s with the iconic look of Paul Kirk, Wendell Lovett, Jerry Gropp, Fred Bassetti, Ralph Anderson, Paul Thiry, Victor Steinbrueck and others, reconsider your “tear-down”
How well I've served my clients is evidenced by the fact that many of these are repeat clients- as two or three or four or five (or in one case, six times- the family home below was the second of six projects for Dr and Mrs Karle Mottet).
(below) A Lake Side Cabana created from an old waterfront shack that local zoning regulations would not allow to be replaced if it were demolished. (Click) Cabana WebSite to see how this was done.
Working at a distance- As you can see by the rest of my JG WebSite, I've done work in Argentina, Hawaii and other parts of the world. (These are shown on later JG WebPages). Now eMail, Scanners and the Internet have now made back and forth owner-architect design communication much easier, entirely feasible. Below is an example of how I use these tools. I'm now doing an extensive addition to an existing large home at Salmon Point on Lopez Island, WA for the owners, a retired Delta pilot and his Delta flight attendant wife who live most of their time in Salt Lake City. Below is an eMail "Design Sketch" among many other drawings I furnished them of a Master Bathroom layout for their approval: As you can see, I still draw with a T-Square, label & describe with my computer what I've drawn. The scanned pencil drawing below shows a rather unusual indoor-outdoor bath with an up and over glass-roofed tub. One can shower on the way in from mowing the large lawn.
To see more of my work, please click on this link: http://hometown.aol.com/jgropp2/page2.html/
