Raised in South Florida, Anthony Abbate enjoyed the outdoors and travelled with his family to New York and Bogotá. His love of drawing and model making led him to architecture.

At age 12 he visited buildings under construction with his father, a stone mason. At 28 he became licensed as an architect.  His practice is influenced by his internship with Donald Singer, whose architecture follows a lineage from Igor Polevitzky and Chuck Reed.

Anthony Abbate has received 26 design awards from the American Institute of Architects; chaired the International Subtropical Cities Conference (2013); has lectured in Australia, Mexico, Mozambique, and Colombia; and was featured on Smart City with Carol Coletta (National Public Radio) and Australia Talks Back with Paul Barclay (Australian Broadcasting Corporation Radio National).  He  holds a Master of Architecture from Washington University in St. Louis (1982) and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from The Catholic University of America (1980).