Twin Denville architects celebrate 25 years on April Fools Day

DENVILLE – No joke here; a pair of identical twin sisters have a lot to be thankful for this April Fool’s Day, as the pair will celebrate their birthday and the 25th anniversary of their architecture business.

Denville-based architects Faith and Hope Zimmerman turn 57 on April 1, the same day their joint business, Zimmerman Architects, turns 25.

“April Fool’s helps people remember us more I think,” Faith said. “It’s one thing to be identical twins but then to be born on April Fool’s Day its hard to forget.”

They’ve worked together in Denville 23 years, and in their Bloomfield Avenue office for 10, which they chose because they are both township residents and wanted to work within a nice downtown.

“Living in town, it’s really rewarding to see a client after a job is done and have them tell us how much they love their house,” Faith said.

Each have their separate jobs but still collaborate on each other’s projects, consulting on designs and helping with quality control.

“You get two architects for the price of one,” Faith said.

“It’s always good to have somebody else’s eyes and brain on it,” Hope said. “We push each other to make our projects better without having to worry about offending the other. And I think that shows in our work.”

They’re also grateful they can split up jobs associated with running the business, from payroll to taxes, and trust the other to handle their part of the workload.

“When we started we didn’t even know what exactly we wanted to do besides ‘architecture,’” Hope said. “We’re more self-confident now, more knowledgeable. We also used to take any project that knocked on the door. Now we can pick residential jobs, where we feel we help people the most.”

The Zimmermans are almost exclusively residential architects now.

“When it’s somebody’s house, they put their heart and soul into it, and that’s good because we put our heart and soul into the job too,” Hope said. “People don’t realize how much these things will affect their daily lives. And it’s amazing to be the person who helps them that way.”

The pair have always been close. Even though they aren’t trying, they’re the type of twins that are so comically connected they finish each other’s sentences.

“Maybe there was a year in high school when we split and had different friends,” Faith said.

“But then that didn’t work out because our friend groups combined into one,” Hope said. “We tried to run in different directions but we end up back in the same spot. Just like college. It was meant to be.”

Faith said working together has brought the two even closer as they happily put in 50 hour work weeks in their office overlooking Broadway.

“It’s nice to always have a sounding board,” Faith said. “And having a business partner that you totally know and trust.”

And it helps that their husbands are close, as is their entire extended family. Faith has two children, Hope has three.

“Really they’re more siblings than cousins,” Hope said. “We all live half a mile apart. Close enough to walk but not enough to see one house from the other. It’s a perfect distance.”

Go to www.ZimArch.com for more information.

Staff Writer Michael Izzo: 973-428-6636;mizzo@GannettNJ.com