Costas Kondylis

Mr. Kondylis was the architect of choice for Donald J. Trump and other developers of luxury apartment towers in New York for three decades. He died on August 17 2018 at his home in Manhattan at 78. Mr. Kondylis (pronounced kon-DEE-lis) was a senior partner at Philip Birnbaum & Associates from 1979 to 1989, when he founded Costas Kondylis & Associates. That practice, renamed Costas Kondylis & Partners in 2001, dissolved in 2009. Constantine Andrew Kondylis was born on April 17, 1940, in Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi. (The city was known at the time as Usumbura.) His parents, Vassilikis and Andreas Constantine Kondylis, were Greek citizens. His father opened a chain of general stores in Africa. Costas, as everyone called him, earned a master’s degree in architecture from the University of Geneva and, in 1969, a master’s degree in urban design from Columbia University. From 1972 to 1979, Mr. Kondylis worked at the New York architectural firm Davis, Brody Associates, now Davis Brody Bond, principally on projects in Iran. He was then hired by Philip Birnbaum, another architect known for efficient buildings. That was where he tackled his first project for Mr. Trump: Trump Plaza, 161 East 61st Street. Besides his daughter Alexia Leuschen, Mr. Kondylis is survived by another daughter, Katherine Kary Kondylis; four grandchildren; and two sisters, Mary Kalogreas and Penelope Kondylis. His marriage to Gretchen Barnes ended in divorce. His second marriage, to Lori Lotte Neuner, ended with her death in 1995.