Traditional American Architecture by Gil Schafer

I always wanted to be an Architect.  As a matter of fact, I registered under architectural studies in Collage.  For reasons I can’t even understand today, I decided to switch careers and went into international business and eventually interior design instead.  My dream was to design, build, and oversee constructions of buildings.  The most magical thing about design is that it allows us to build the life we always dreamt of.  This latter, award-winning architect Gil Schafer does effortlessly.  He designs new homes that look as if they were old, but classic and well-designed old houses.

“I design houses to be comfortable, gracious, and understated, and to stand the test of time,” architect Gil Schafer told AD.  Good design runs in his family, Gil Schafer is the grandson and great, great-grandson of architects, so Gil grew up experiencing first hand what a well-built, thoughtfully-designed home feels like and what it takes to build it.  He’s been designing beautiful homes for the past thirty years.  Following undergraduate studies in Growth & Structure of Cities at Haverford College and its sister institution Bryn Mawr, Gil graduated from Yale School of Architecture with a Master’s Degree in 1988. While at Yale, Gil studied under several noted practitioners including Thomas Beeby, Robert Venturi, Josef Kleihues, Frank Gehry, and Benard Tschumi and was the recipient of the H. I. Feldman Prize, Yale’s highest honor for studio work, in his final semester.  Gil Schafer served as the President and then Chairman of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art from 1999-2006 as well as in many other nonprofit boards.

Gil Schafer, David Netto interiors, nashville-interior17

This Nashville home was restored by Gil and decorated by David Netto.  This entryway has everything I believe in, classic architecture, a beautiful graphic floor that adds a modern touch, ornate furniture and modern expressionist art by Jean-Michel Basquiat.  I love everything in this entryway.

Gil Schafer, entryway, nashville-interior02-1

The living room is designed more traditionally with different sitting groups that facilitate entertaining.  Gil Schafer architecture Gil Schafer, bathroom vanity, nashville-interior11

The bathroom has a combination of classic cabinetry and a modern Lucite console sink.

Gil Schafer, bedroom with canopy bed, nashville-interior15 

The kitchen is more on the rustic side with beam wood ceiling and white cabinets.  The floating hood vent over the island is a modern touch to this more traditional kitchen. Gil Schafer, mirrored bathroom tub, nashville-interior12  

Below, some details of a new home that looks as it’s been always there, under construction.