Writer & Journalist
Stories rooted in place
X Marks the Spot: Two architects went searching for their hearts desire, and found it in a friend’s backyard.
Sometimes architecture starts with a material. Sometimes it starts with a landscape. And sometimes it starts with a paddle stroke.
Camp Whatever-it’s-Called: A Year-Round Summer Camp in Elizaville
Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, if you come knocking on Josh Kowan and Janna Cohen Kowan’s front door in Elizaville, you might not get an answer.
Warehouse Fleecing: An Illustrated Home in Claverack
True story: Writer Dave King and Artist Frank Tartaglione found an abandoned warehouse outside Claverack and completely transformed it. How they did it, however, is a matter of perspective.
Fly Away Home: A Couple’s Avian-Inspired Cold Spring Nest
It’s clear when you speak to architect Alex Miller and his partner Cecilia Ramos that they have a thing for birds.
Party Like It’s 1892: A Couple Restores a Historic Uptown Kingston Home
The first night Helen Atkinson spent alone in her new home at the corner of Fair and St. James streets she saw a ghost.
Latest Work
Sunday Dinner at the Diago’s—Chronogram July 26
Cabin Flush: Designer Daniela Araya’s Colorful Delaware County Cabin-Chronogram, June 2026
Inside Ivy Dane's Pattern-Filled Life in Hudson — Chronogram, May 2026
Karen Rinaldi’s Cocteau-Inspired Copake Home Is a Refuge After Divorce- Chronogram April, 2026
A Rhinebeck House Built for Entertaining—and a Life Together- Chronogram December, 2025
Plum Design Group Revives a Beloved Shawangunk Ridge Home- Upstate House, Winter 2025
A Storied Lake Compound in Esopus Gets an Eco-Conscious Uplift— Upstate House, Fall 2025
Mary Angeles Armstrong is a writer and journalist covering architecture, sustainable design, and historic preservation. Based in New York’s Hudson Valley, her in-depth profiles explore people and the places they call home. Her work appears in Chronogram, Upstate House, and Mansion Global.