Stephen Alexander founded Second Empire in 1985 in New York's Hudson River Valley near West Point. It was primarily a restoration shop, until in 1989, to raise his cabinetmaking skills,  he went off to Boston to attend the cabinetmaking program at the North Bennet Street School.

While at NBSS, he met his future wife, who was studying Bookbinding. Later she  applied for,  and was accepted for,  a position at the Library of Congress, as a conservator. They settled in Baltimore after  their graduation, where Stephen set up shop.

Aside from running his own business, he has also spent 5 years as one of three Senior Design Associates for the Niermann Weeks Co. in Annapolis, a manufacturer of high end furniture and lighting. While there, he helped design and develop a number of the antiqued faux and natural wood finishes for which they have been famous. 

A senior design job with Chapman Manufacturing in Avon Massechusetts followed for another four years.  His tasks while there was to bolster up this high end lighting companies long neglected furniture line with new designs and finishes.

In 2000, with those previous 9 years of experience under his belt,  he went back to the full time running of his own business again.