Partners

A man with glasses, beard, and mustache stands indoors. He wears a navy blazer, gray cardigan, blue shirt, striped tie, and a pocket square. He smiles with hands clasped. Bookshelves, a fireplace, and a table with books are visible in the background.

Gil Schafer III

FOUNDING PARTNER

“As residential architects, our highest achievement is to successfully create places our clients can call home. That word ‘home,’ to me, has everything to do with comfort, family, and friends — and memories, most of all. Growing up, I learned that if a house is going to feel like home, it has to create opportunities for memories, even in the smallest moments of life.”

Award-winning architect Gil Schafer, AIA , is recognized as one of the nation’s leading experts on contemporary classical architecture. He established G. P. Schafer Architect in 2002, and in 2025, the firm was renamed to become Schafer & Co.

The grandson and great, great grandson of architects, Gil grew up with a strong sense of how a well-built, thoughtfully-designed home can bring pleasure to daily life. Over the course of his childhood he was fortunate to be exposed to life in a variety of places, including the Midwest, the Northeast, Georgia, California and the Bahamas, each contributing to his sense of what makes places unique and how architectural traditions and lifestyle are influenced by context.

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 Masters Degree. 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. Upon graduation, he worked at several highly respected (classical architecture) firms and spent (nearly) a decade at Ferguson & Shamamian Architects, working on major projects there.

In addition to his architectural practice, Gil regularly lectures around the country on the relevance and livability of traditional residential architecture today and is the author of three best-selling books: The Great American House, A Place to Call Home, and Home At Last. Gil is a longstanding member of Architectural Digest’s AD100 list, a winner of Veranda’s “Art of Design Award,” and a recipient of the Arthur Ross Award for Architecture. His work and the firm’s projects have been widely published both here in the U. S. and abroad in both magazines and newspapers, including Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, House Beautiful, Veranda, Town & Country, Vogue, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, among many others. Under Gil’s leadership, the firm’s work has also appeared in over 30 books on design.

Gil serves on several non-profit boards and advisory councils, including the Yale School of Architecture’s Dean’s Council, the Dutchess Land Conservancy, and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello. Gil served as the President and then Chairman of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, the nation’s leading resource for the classical tradition in architecture and its allied arts, for nearly a decade. Gil currently maintains architectural licenses in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Texas, Massachusetts, Virginia, Tennessee, Rhode Island, Vermont, Georgia, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Arkansas and is certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB).

He and his family divide their time between New York City, and the coast of Maine.

A man in a blue plaid suit and patterned tie smiles while leaning forward on a white table. He stands in front of a mantel with a mirror, framed art, and a large potted plant. The setting appears to be a formal office or living space.

Louis Taylor

PARTNER, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

“It’s incredibly fulfilling to see the kind of beautiful, detailed work our team creates. That moment when you see a home completed — there’s nothing like it.”

FIRM PARTNER AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Louis Taylor graduated from the University of Delaware with dual degrees in Business Administration Management, and Finance and received his Master’s of Business Administration from the Rutgers University Business School. Before joining G. P. Schafer Architect in 2010, he worked at a major public accounting firm. It was GPSA’s artistic environment that first drew him to the firm. “Architects and design-focused people are truly passionate about their work, making our office an inspiring place to be on a daily basis.” He was named a partner of the firm in January 2017.

Involved in nearly every aspect of the business, Lou oversees the company’s finances and handles general planning and strategy, contracts, human resources, and facilities management. He lives in New Jersey with his family, where he coaches youth sports teams and enjoys golfing on weekends.

Principals

A man with a shaved head and trimmed beard wears a brown suit jacket and light blue shirt, standing beside a wooden chair. He rests one hand on the chair, with framed art and stacked books in the background.

Carl Carfi

Principal

“I enjoy the entire process of creating a home. It’s very rewarding to see the evolution from the initial design concept to the final product, and have the client walk into the house and experience all of the details you’ve been so passionate about and focused on.”

Carl Carfi has long had passion for residential architecture. While he was a student at Fordham University, he spent summers interning at a prestigious Connecticut architecture firm. Following his graduation from Fordham with his Bachelor of Arts degree in Pre-Architecture, he immediately enrolled in the New Jersey Institute of Technology for his Master of Architecture, where he received a Comprehensive Studio Design Award for his design of a sustainable winery for a local New Jersey farm.

After graduating with his Master’s, Carl joined Mark P. Finlay Architects in Connecticut full time, where he worked on a number of historic renovations and rehabilitations including the Aloha Boathouse in Newport, Rhode Island, which received the 2013 Doris Duke Preservation Award and the 2014 AtHome Magazine A-List Renovation Award. 

Carl joined GPSA in the spring of 2015 as a Project Manager and was promoted to Associate in January of 2019. He was named a Studio Director in the summer of 2023. Carl has been involved in a number of the firm’s projects, most recently managing the design and construction of houses in Montecito, California; Seal Harbor, Maine; Nashville, Tennessee; Charlottesville, Virginia; and Southampton on Long Island. 

Carl lives with his wife in Summit, New Jersey.

Smiling woman with glasses and shoulder-length blonde hair, wearing a black top, sits at a desk with architectural plans. She is in a bright office with a large window and white walls. One hand rests on the plans, and a rolled-up sheet is on the desk.

Laura A. B. Welsh

Principal

“I love engaging with individual clients at every stage of a project, considering how they will live and be comfortable in a space.”

Laura A. B. Welsh’s love of classical design has long been the driving force behind her passion for architecture. Laura joined GPSA in 2011 after working at several prestigious firms in Pennsylvania and New York on projects around the country, including Los Angeles, Southampton, and Louisville. She graduated with her Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Notre Dame where she was also on the Dean’s List. Laura was named a Studio Director in the summer of 2023 and is also the firm’s Human Resources Coordinator.

In addition to her role in leadership at the firm, Laura’s recent projects include a number of New York City apartment and townhouse renovations, as well as restorations and new houses in Kennebunk, Maine; San Francisco, California; and Southampton, New York. In the past few years, her work has appeared in a number of books, including A Pattern Book for Gulf Coast Neighborhoods, A Decade of Art & Architecture 1992–2002, and Building Cities: Toward a Civil Society & Sustainable Environment.

Laura lives in New York City, with her husband, also an architect who works in restoration.

Associates

A man in a blue suit sits at a desk, looking at the camera. He has a light complexion and short brown hair. An open book and a pen are on the desk. In the background, rolled-up papers are in a clear vase against a white wall.

Brad Devendorf

ASSOCIATE

“What makes this profession truly rewarding are the days spent on site — when you trade your computer screen for a hard hat and hear the sounds of progress, feel the scale of the spaces, and see lines on paper transformed into something tangible that our clients will soon live in, work in, and enjoy.”

Over the course of his career, Associate Brad Devendorf has worked on projects around the country, including New York City, Long Island, the Hudson Valley, New England, South Florida, Atlanta, and Bermuda.

After joining the firm in 2011, he rose through the ranks at GPSA to become Project Manager and Associate before departing the firm to work on a historic renovation of a home built by Grosvenor Atterbury in the Hamptons. He returned to Schafer & Co as an Associate in 2025, and in addition to his role on the Leadership team, he is working on a new residence in Dallas, a renovation of an apartment in New York City’s Upper East Side Historic District, and a new building for a coastal property in Maine, where he led the Main House project for GPSA from 2015-2018.

Brad completed a Bachelor of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame, but it wasn’t until later that he realized homes were his true passion. “Originally, I was interested in town planning and urban development, but when I started working at a master-planned community in Florida, I discovered that homes and residences are at the heart of any urban project, and I knew that’s what I wanted to do,” he says. Before moving to Manhattan for a job with GPSA, Brad spent two years working in Florida, where he was part of the team that won a 2010 Palladio Award, a prize that honors outstanding achievement in traditional design. 

He returned to the University of Notre Dame to pursue a graduate degree in the study of classical architecture. During his program, he was awarded the Ferguson & Shamamian Architects Graduate Prize for his thesis. He graduated with his Master of Architectural Design and Urbanism in 2011.

Brad currently lives in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood with his wife and young son.

A man with short dark hair and a beard, wearing a dark blue checked suit and white shirt, sits on a wooden chair indoors. He smiles at the camera, hands clasped. The background features framed art, shelves, and neutral-toned decor.

Michael Geller

ASSOCIATE

“One of the best parts of managing a project is seeing its evolution, from the very first conversation about a client’s desires and the initial sketches, to the construction and finishes, to the final installation a client sees their completed home for the very first time. It’s very humbling to watch someone have this experience with a home that they will enjoy for many years to come.”

Michael Geller’s passion for architecture became apparent at an early age, when he took every drafting class offered at his Pennsylvania high school. He graduated from the University of Miami with his Bachelor of Architecture in 2011 before attending graduate school at the University of Notre Dame, where he was a Fagan Grant Recipient and Special Commendation Honoree. He graduated with his Master of Architectural Design and Urbanism in 2013. During his studies, Mike interned with several notable firms including Duany Plater-Zyberk & Partners and Robert A.M. Stern Architects before joining GPSA in 2013.

Mike moved up the ranks at the firm, from Draftsperson to Job Captain to Project Manager, before being named an Associate in 2024. Operating at multiple levels of the firm’s structure has given him an intimate familiarity with the firm’s design ethos and internal organizational flow. As an Associate, he manages a number of internal teams and on each project coordinates the many various consultants and collaborators that help bring a home to life. He says, “One of my favorite parts of the process is when we are in the early stages of design, working intensely with a client. It’s such an important time of collaboration as we take their wants and needs and channel our creative energy into a design that will ultimately become a home that is, hopefully, more than they could have even imagined.”

Mike is actively involved with the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art and spent seven years as the co-chair for their PLINTH program, which seeks to build up the younger membership and increase awareness of classicism among the next generation of architects. His personal apartment renovation was published in Domino and he has appeared on the ICAA’s “Classicism in Conversation” podcast.

Mike lives with his wife and young son in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. On most summer weekends, they can be found in Montauk, fishing, golfing, and enjoying the beach with extended family.

A woman with curly dark hair, wearing a black top, sits and smiles at the camera. She is in a modern office setting with a computer monitor, white desk, and papers on the wall in the background. The lighting is bright and natural.

Jahlay Rae

ASSOCIATE, INTERIORS STUDIO DIRECTOR

“I love making connections with each client to understand how they want to live, so we can elevate their ideas to the highest level. Having an understanding of architecture and art is an important foundation for meaningful interior design and when we see a project through — both the architecture and the decoration — we’re able to create something truly special for our clients.”

It was Interiors STUDIO Director Jahlay Rae’s deep-seated interest in art that led her to architecture and interior design. After graduating with her Bachelor of Arts in Art History with a concentration in architecture from New York University, she worked in art galleries and as an art buyer, honing her eye and developing her traditionally informed aesthetic. It was during this time that she decided to pursue a career in interiors, and after getting a second degree from the New York School of Interior Design, she worked at a number of prestigious firms in Manhattan and Brooklyn. 

She joined Schafer & Co, then G. P. Schafer Architect, in 2008, and in the years since, has worked hand-in-hand with Gil leading the interior design of a number of the firm’s major, award-winning projects, including our New Residence in Southern Georgia, a Family Compound in Coastal Maine, and our design of the The American Boat House.

Jahlay’s passion for art and architecture informs all of her work. “One of my favorite parts of a project is helping clients with art and antiques. Sometimes that means incorporating a client’s existing furniture, and sometimes it’s helping them find completely new, or new-to-them, pieces. In both cases, their personality guides the process as we strive to make each house a reflection of the people who live there.”

Jahlay lives in Maplewood, New Jersey, with her husband and their rescue dog. They often travel with their college-age son, and during weekends at home, Jahlay can be found taking in museums and art exhibitions in New York City. 

A bearded man with short dark hair, wearing a navy blazer and light blue shirt, sits on a wooden chair and smiles slightly. Framed art and photos hang on the beige wall behind him, creating a warm, professional setting.

Chris Taylor

ASSOCIATE

“We are dedicated to running our business in the most efficient and effective way possible so that our clients, our vendors, and anyone we work with, can focus on what really matters — creating a meaningful, beautiful place to live.”

After graduating with his Bachelor of Science in Economics with a minor in Finance from Rutgers-New Brunswick, Associate Chris Taylor began his career at Granet & Associates, a business management consulting agency for architecture and design firms, before joining G. P. Schafer Architect.

More than a decade later, Chris is heavily involved in the day-to-day operations of the firm. He continues to work in the finance department and oversees facilities and logistics for the company’s two offices. And yet for all of the juggling, he reiterates that his first priority, like everyone’s at GPSA, is the client. “If our business runs smoothly internally, it ensures that the clients can get the level of service they deserve, and ultimately that their projects run just as smoothly. That’s our goal.”

An avid golfer, Chris lives in New Jersey, and when he’s not at the office, he loves to travel, attend live concerts, and spend time outdoors with his young daughter.

A man in a gray suit jacket and light blue shirt sits at a desk, smiling and holding a pencil. He has short hair and is working on papers. The background shows a bright, softly lit interior with books and a white radiator.

Christopher Whelan

DESIGN ASSOCIATE

“Drawing is, and has always been, at the center of our design and creative processes. We take great pride in how we translate our client’s vision and infuse it with creativity, beauty, and memory.”

Christopher Whelan was studying economics at Johns Hopkins University when, on a lark, he took an elective architectural history course and his passion for design was born. After graduating from Johns Hopkins in 2010, Chris enrolled in the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture, where he studied in Rome, developed a deep appreciation for American and traditional architecture, and graduated with a Masters in Classical Architecture.  

During his graduate studies, Chris interned at Timothy Bryant Architect and Buccellato Design and received multiple awards for his student work, including a Jury Prize from the AIA Philadelphia’s Ed Bacon Student Design competition, a Charter Award from the Congress for the New Urbanism, and a Trumbauer Award from the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art’s Philadelphia chapter.

Chris joined GPSA in 2013, and in 2024, was named Schafer Buccellato’s first Design Associate, a role which calls upon his diverse background and interest in architectural design, theory, and history, as well as his eye for landscape and interior design. “As a Design Associate, I consider every aspect of a project, from big picture planning to the smallest details that make a house livable.” Chris and the rest of the team combine the latest technological innovations with their deep knowledge and understanding of classical detailing to create homes that have a sense of history, a distinct character, and truly work for clients’ lives. 

Chris’s favorite pastime is being with his family, and he also enjoys surfing, swimming, and a good cup of coffee. He lives with his wife and three children in Glen Ridge, New Jersey.