Hartford-based Amenta Emma Architects co-founder Anthony ‘Tony’ Amenta will retire Feb. 13 after four decades leading the firm he established with Robert Emma in 1985.
Hartford-based Amenta Emma Architects co-founder Anthony 'Tony' Amenta will retire Feb. 13 after four decades leading the firm he established with Robert Emma in 1985.
Amenta’s departure comes about a year after Michael Tyre became president of the architecture and design firm in January 2025, following a leadership transition announced in March 2024. Amenta had stepped away from the presidency at that time but remained with the firm in an advisory role focused on business development in the New England region.
The retirement marks the end of an era for the Hartford firm, which Amenta helped grow from a two-person startup to a regional practice with offices in Boston and New York City.
“It has been an honor and a privilege to create, build and lead this prestigious and highly regarded design firm,” Amenta said in a statement to staff. “I have enjoyed a fabulous career with the firm and have immensely enjoyed every day and every role I have played along the way.”
Amenta, 71, founded the firm at age 31 after working for firms in Texas, including William T. Cannady, FAIA, Architect. He joined JCJ Architects in Hartford in 1982 and quickly rose to director of design at age 29 before establishing his own practice three years later.
The firm’s portfolio includes West Hartford’s Blue Back Square mixed-use development, where Amenta served as the landlord’s architect and created design guidelines that shaped the project’s distinctive storefront character.
Blue Back Square in West Hartford
Other notable projects include the Connecticut State Office Building renovation at 165 Capitol Ave. in Hartford, Lafayette Hall at Housatonic Community College, and 616 New Park Ave. in West Hartford, Connecticut’s first mixed-use development adjacent to a CTfastrak rapid transit stop.
