By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
January 9, 2000
Claudia Skylar and James Mastro never went out on your typical date. Colleagues at the same architecture firm about 20 years ago, they would take their sandwiches to the lunch room and discuss order and chaos in the universe.
“We were both really weird sort of people,” says Claudia, 48. “I’m not even sure we ever dated. The whole thing just sort of evolved. We worked together and never really admitted to ourselves that we might like each other as more than friends.”
James, 53, adds, “We knew each other for a long time before we got married.
Architects are known for spending a lot of time at the office, and we certainly did. It was never spoken that one day we were friends and the next day we were maybe something a little more. We just started doing more things together until we ended up spending 100 percent of our time together.”
In fact, James never proposed to Claudia. It was just understood that after a certain point, their relationship would evolve into a marriage.
Now partners in their own firm–Mastro & Skylar Architects–they’re also lifelong partners who’ve been married for the past 19 years. Though the two are pretty much together 24/7, the couple maintains that they don’t get sick of each other.
“We’re both very independent people,” Claudia says. “But we’re needy, too, in that we need to be with each other all the time. There aren’t too many people who I feel that way about. But there are so many things that we enjoy doing together that we’re both really passionate about.”
Such as rehabbing their 12,000-square-foot Wicker Park home.
“I’ve heard that rehabbing is the major cause of suicide and divorce in America,” Claudia says, tongue-in-cheek.
Says James, “People ask us all the time when we’ll be finished. But for us, being done isn’t meaningful. The process of turning this place into something is the fun part. We pride ourselves on not just being architects, but also developers and builders.”
They don’t share every element of their lives, though. For instance, Claudia will get up at the crack of dawn to get in a morning run before starting the day. James prefers to stay warm and cozy underneath the covers. She’s also an avid equestrian and skier. He’d rather tinker around the house. She likes to make little changes, like getting him a new brand of shaving cream. He’d rather do something big, like move the staircase.
“I told you we were weird,” Claudia says with a laugh. “But when something works, why bother trying to change it?”
Why indeed.
