Mark Asher, principal of Asher Slaunwhite + Partners in Jenkintown, was featured by The Philadelphia Inquirer on Thursday for creating the modern look of many Jersey Shore properties.
An excerpt:
For more than four decades, Asher has left his imprint on homes from Cape May to Rumson to the Philly suburbs, everything from 1,200-square-foot cottages to 15,000-square-foot mansions.
Early in his career, Shore homes on Seven Mile Island, home to Avalon and Stone Harbor, were his bread and butter. Today, about 60% of his work comes from the Shore, and the rest from coastal clients who hire him for their inland homes.
Growing up, Asher spent his summers touring the Jersey coast in a small sailboat.
“The sights and sounds, the feel, and even the smells of these coastal towns became etched in my memory,” Asher told The Inquirer. “So when I started to work in the various beach towns, it was really just going back to a place I’d already been.”
His company designed the most expensive house ever listed in Avalon. In 2025, two years after construction began, it listed for $26.5 million, according to The Philadelphia Business Journal. It has six bedrooms, seven full bathrooms and three half-bathrooms.
From the company’s website:
Mark Asher, AIA, NCARB, a graduate of Virginia Tech University, founded Asher Associates Architects in 1993 with the designs of several Yacht Clubs in southern New Jersey. He had spent summers as a youngster sailing up and down the Jersey coast, developing a familiarity with and passion for the vernacular styles of the coastal towns. Before long, Mark had built a strong practice specializing in coastal residential architecture.
The firm continued to grow, gaining both clients and staff drawn to his work. In 2018, after nearly 10 years with the firm, Deborah Slaunwhite joined Mark as Partner. Her design aesthetic helped broaden the firm’s vocabulary to include more contemporary elements. With the addition of Laura Glantz as Partner in 2022, the firm now operates as Asher Slaunwhite + Partners. Along with a strong management team, the Partners oversee a studio of talented architects and designers, a portfolio of heirloom homes, and generations of clients who feel like family.
The attention to detail, commitment to clients, and emphasis on quality evident in Mark’s earliest projects are hallmarks of hundreds of ‘Asher Houses’ that grace the streets, bays, and beach fronts along the New Jersey coast, in the Philadelphia area and beyond.
For more on Asher Slaunwhite + Partners, located at 115 West Avenue #305, you can visit their website and Facebook page.
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