Architect Jeffrey Beers Dies at 67
The founder of Jeffrey Beers International was known for designing spaces for Jay-Z, Gordon Ramsay and Daniel Boulud
By Abigail Nehring March 22, 2024 5:44 pm
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Jeffrey Beers, an architect known for designing nightclubs, restaurants and hotels around the country, died March 18 after a battle with cancer, his firm, Jeffrey Beers International (JBI), announced on social media. Beers was 67.
Beers was a “visionary leader, mentor, and dear friend,” JBI wrote on Instagram. His eye for designing warm interior spaces drew boutique hotels, restaurants and private clients to JBI.
Under Beers’s helm, the firm brought Jay-Z’s vision to life at the 40/40 Club in the Flatiron District and designed spaces for celebrity chefs Gordan Ramsay in Las Vegas and Daniel Boulud on the Upper East Side. The firm also took on residential clients including One West End on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, the 55-story 277 Fifth Avenue, and 108 Leonard, also known as the Clock Tower Building, in Tribeca.
Beers was also known for his hospitality work at the Plaza Hotel and Hard Rock Hotel in New York along with the Ritz-Carlton in Dallas.
Beers was born in 1956 in Detroit and graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1979 with a bachelor of fine arts in architecture, according to the firm. As a college student, he also studied glassblowing from artist Dale Chihuly.
He received a Fulbright fellowship to study architecture in Brazil, spending two years in the country and studying under influential modernist Oscar Niemeyer.
Upon his return to New York, Beers was hired by Ieoh Ming Pei, the American architect known for designing the Louvre in Paris.
Beers launched JBI in 1986, and the firm soon targeted hotels, resorts, office and residential clients.
“Jeffrey’s impact on the firm’s studio, the architectural industry, the hospitality design industry and countless communities around the world is immeasurable,” JBI said in a statement. “His creative genius and compassionate leadership have inspired all who had the privilege of working with him.”
Beers enjoyed glassblowing throughout his life and was an avid deep-sea fisherman, according to JBI. His fishing expeditions led him on adventures off the Atlantic Coast. He also loved to cook for his family and friends.
Beers is survived by his wife, Connie, and sons Justin and Oliver.
Abigail Nehring can be reached at anehring@commercialobserver.com.
