Summer Lecture & Luncheon

Every year the NPT Summer Lecture & Luncheon features a leader from the fields of architecture, preservation, landscape design or interior design whose work contributes to the preservation of our shared historic heritage. Our lecture is followed by a leisurely luncheon in a lovely setting.

On Tuesday, July 23, Gil Schafer III, founding partner of Schafer Buccatello Architects, will present the 2024 Summer Lecture, entitled “Creating a Home to Last: Designing Houses for Now – and Forever” at the Ballroom at the White Elephant Village. Tickets will be available in Spring 2024.

For the last three decades, award-winning architect and bestselling author Gil Schafer has designed houses that not only meet the demands of the current moment but are also designed to endure. The winner of nearly every industry award and a regular on Architectural Digest’s AD100 list and many other lists of top architects and designers around the country, he has a deep understanding that a house is ultimately never meant to be about its architect, but rather, as his clients know, about those individuals whose days and lives will unfold within its walls. Now, in his new book, Home At Last: Enduring Design for the New American House, Gil welcomes readers into a series of new residences across the country, sharing how his own design evolution has increased his appreciation for the richness—and messiness!—of modern life, and the ways in which it can take both houses, and the people who live in them, in unexpected and wonderful directions.

Join Gil for this lavishly illustrated talk as he opens the doors to many of these memorable spaces, offering practical advice on how craftsmanship, creativity, and the distinctive stories, tastes, and lives of his clients come together for homes that will last for generations to come.

Award-winning architect Gil Schafer is one of the country’s leading experts on contemporary classical architecture and one of the most sought-after residential architects working today.  He is a member of Architectural Digest’s AD100, a winner of Veranda’s “Art of Design Award,” a recipient of the Arthur Ross Award for Architecture, and the subject of the recent PBS documentary, “Design in Mind: Unlocking the Mysteries of Place.” Gil holds a Master of Architecture from Yale and is the author of the bestselling books The Great American House and A Place to Call Home. His latest book, Home At Last, is newly out from Rizzoli. His work has also been widely published in the press and is included in over three dozen books on design.  He opened his eponymous firm G. P. Schafer Architect in 2002 and renamed the firm Schafer Buccellato Architects in the fall of 2023. Gil serves on the Yale School of Architecture Dean’s Council and the board of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation and was president and then chairman of The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, the nation’s leading resource for the classical tradition in architecture and the allied arts, for over a decade. When he’s not traveling for work, he divides his time with his family between New York City, the Hudson Valley, and Maine.

Eric Piasecki photo

Past lecturers Include:

  • 2023: Thomas McManus & Andrew Oyen
    2022 Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill
  • 2021 Victoria Hagan
  • 2019 Paula Henderson
  • 2018 Gil Schafer
  • 2017 Brent Hull
  • 2016 Flynn Kuhnert and Hutton Wilkinson
  • 2015 Dr. Ann Johnson
  • 2014 Peter Pennoyer and Ann Walker
  • 2013 Gil Schafer
  • 2012 Marty Hylton
  • 2011 Sharon N. Lorenzo
  • 2010 Myrick Howard
  • 2009 Brian Pfeiffer
  • 2008 Howard Mansfield
  • 2007 Paul Goldberger

The Summer Lecture and Luncheon is a fundraising event, and as such, ticket purchases and leadership donations are non-refundable. If you are unable to attend, or in the unlikely event of a cancellation, your donation becomes fully tax-deductible.

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