Schedule
The Traditional Building Conference Series, now in its twenty-fifth year, has interesting, informative and inspirational education and architectural tours planned for 2025. Three of America's most historic locations will be our living laboratories for learning about architectural history, traditional design and craftsmanship. Earn up to 12 AIA Continuing Education Units in each event, most HSWs. Meet industry experts and network with your professional peers in intimate settings with excellent food!
Stay tuned here for updates on seminars, demonstrations, architectural tours and social events.
For the latest information on upcoming conferences and webinars, sign up for email updates.
SLEEPY HOLLOW SCHEDULE:
October 7 & 8, 2025
Tappan Hill Mansion
81 Highland Ave
Tarrytown, NY
Tuesday, October 7
8:00 – 9:00 AM
Breakfast, Registration, and Exhibits
9:00 - 9:10 AM
Welcome and Introductions
9:10 -10:15 AM
Architecture, Interiors & Landscape: The Power of Creative Collaboration in Design
Speaker: Scott Sottile, AIA, Partner, Ferguson & Shamamian Architects, New York, NY
This course has been submitted to the AIA for credit review.
This presentation will focus on the design of custom homes that embody a mastery of traditional architectural vocabularies, dedication to craftsmanship, and an understanding of the dynamic collaboration between clients, architecture, interiors, landscape, and construction. As illustrated in their new book COLLABORATIONS: Architecture Interiors Landscapes—which features an extensive body of work across the country—Ferguson & Shamamian’s singular approach to architectural design seamlessly harmonizes timeless, understated classical character, proportion and detail with an understanding of their clients’ tastes, desires, and necessities for modern life.
Join the firm’s partner Scott Sottile as he pulls back the curtain to show how the firm creates a dialogue between past and present, form and functionality to design residences that each have their own unique story, architectural directive, and custom details. As he opens the doors to projects in the Hudson River Valley, California, Maine, Connecticut and beyond, he will share how his firm’s collaborative approach to designing one-of-a-kind houses, appropriate for their site, reflective of the lives, personalities, and needs of their clients.
Learning Objectives:
- Apply traditional design elements to maximize the positive impact of interiors on inhabitants and guests.
- Use natural and created landscapes for the wellbeing of inhabitants and guests.
- Plan holistically for public and private spaces, considering family needs and the comfort of guests with attention to small details when preparing project site and floor plans and working drawings and renderings.
- Demonstrate how practicing traditional design can address contemporary needs such as sustainability and residential building codes.
- Consider the team approach-using discipline specific expertise in architecture, interiors, and landscape- for solving complex residential design challenges.
10:15 - 10:35 AM
Networking Break
10:35 - 11:40 AM
Glass in Windows and Doors - Navigating Requirements for Climate and Code
Speaker: Russ Oliveri, President, Oliveri Millworks
1 AIA Health/Safety/Welfare Learning Unit
Custom solutions for specific challenges are a given when working on historic buildings or designing custom traditional buildings. Requirements for impact ratings vary by region in the US. Hurricanes have taught us a lot about design. This presentation will focus on efforts to improve the energy performance and storm response of windows and doors by examining some case studies. Emphasis will be on evaluating the entire project including its Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP) and Heating, Ventilating, and Cooling (HVAC) systems.
Learning Objectives:
- Use a wholistic approach to evaluating energy consumption and cost calculation.
- Consider the importance of engineering and architectural inspections to plan energy and storm mitigation upgrades.
- Make choices for doors and windows based on regional code requirements and an awareness of lessons learned from their performance during hurricanes and tropical storms.
- Apply lessons learned from case studies of door and window installations.
11:40 AM -12:45 PM
Arts & Crafts Houses: Identifying and Understanding 20th Century Progressive Architecture
Speaker: Gordon Bock, Author, and Educator; former Old-House Journal editor-in-chief.
This course has been submitted to the AIA for credit review.
Identifying Arts & Crafts buildings, whether for Historic Structures Reports or architectural pleasure, can be a tricky task even for professionals. The reason is, Arts & Crafts is NOT a style but a shared set of distinctive characteristics and features, an ethos, a point of view. Sustainability or “cozy,” can be applied in different ways and to different sites and locales. This regionality only adds to many people’s confusion about Arts & Crafts.
Arts & Crafts architecture, which began in Britian in the 1880s as a design reform movement with William Morris, changed, sifted focus, and reoriented – sometimes 180 degrees – when it migrated to United States around 1900. Some of the best exponents of Art & Crafts design wrote very little “theory.”
In this presentation, we’ll get a handle on some of the hallmarks and telltale characteristics of Arts & Crafts buildings – from the conceptual to the literal, built examples – using the perspective of the East Coast, New York’s Hudson Valley and New Jersey, one of the movement’s epicenters during its heyday from 1890 to 1914.
Learning Objectives:
- Explain “Honest Construction” and the impact of material selection on inhabitants of and visitors to Arts & Craft buildings.
- Consider “structural construction” versus “ornamental construction” and its continuing influence, even into the era of big buildings.
- Cite examples of progressive and holistic design that began with Arts & Crafts houses and continue to be found in residences created today.
- Discuss the relevance of the Arts and Crafts ethos on residential design today.
12:45- 2:15 PM
Luncheon, Raphael Awards and Clem Labine Award Presentations
The 2025 Raphael Awards celebrate hand drawing and watercolor rendering. The Clem Labine Award recognizes that individual for his/her service to the traditional building community.
2:15- 6:00 PM
Tours or choice of two educational sessions at the Tappan Hill Mansion during this time slot.
New this year! Choose between AIA elective CEU tours or HSW approved educational sessions for this afternoon only.
3-4:00 pm
Vacuum Insulated Glazing for Historic Restoration
Speaker: Giovanna Fernandes, Architectural Glass Division, Pilkington North America
1 AIA Health/Safety/Welfare Learning Unit
Windows and their glass are defining characteristics as a traditional building. By deconstructing the basic components (glass, coatings, and design), it is possible to better analyze and understand historic window restoration or repair. The basic levels of performance and aesthetic impact of window design will be described and detailed. This course details how vacuum insulated glazing (VIG) is made and how this differs from traditional glazing. This course will detail some of the differences in VIG technology for window usage, seal, and construction. Case studies on how VIG has been used in historic restoration and key takeaway lessons from the projects will be discussed, including how the use of VIG reduces waste while improving energy efficiency.
Learing Objectives:
- Understand thermal and sound performance factors related to window design.
- Identify alternatives for performance and aesthetics when faced with repair or replacement glass for historic preservation and traditional new products.
- Be able to explain the history and development of glass and insulated glass (IG) products as well as the impact on the internal environment of the building.
- Describe the properties and performance of vacuum insulated glazing (VIG) and other types of glazing and cite lessons learned from case studies of the use of VIG in historic buildings including the carbon impacts.
4:30-5:30 pm
Preserving the Integrity of the American Front Porch
Speaker: Thomas C. Tidwell (Chris), Vice President, Aeratis Porch Products
1 AIA Health/Safety/Welfare Learning Unit
Gain an understanding of why new growth wood fails more rapidly when used in exterior living space. This session will explain alternative materials for durability and low maintenance of porches, balconies, and exterior shutters to create sustainable exterior living spaces for single family, multi-family, commercial and government projects.
Learning Objectives:
- Discuss design and planning around the limitations of current material options and high-performance materials which provide traditional tongue and groove porch flooring.
- Learn how to add finishing touches to increase curb appeal and reduce/eliminate long-term maintenance.
- Compare and contrast challenges of traditional materials and the benefits of utilizing high performance synthetics in traditional porch applications.
- Describe the steps for framing and installation options for the different types of application.
IF YOU CHOOSE a TOUR for this AFTERNOON, PLEASE CHOOSE ONE:
2:15 PM -6:00 PM
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and Old Dutch Church Tour
Speakers: Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Staff
This tour has been submitted to the AIA for credit review. 2 hours
Extensive walking on hilly, uneven terrain, rain, or shine. Please wear sturdy, weather resistant shoes and plan for rain if the forecast calls for it. There is no seating available during the tour.
Cemeteries are important places in any community, especially in historic Sleepy Hollow New York. The Sleepy Hollow cemetery is the final resting place of many leaders in American Arts and Industry. The gates, the chapel, mausoleums, and headstones evoke powerful emotion. During this tour we will learn about recent stone restoration work and visit some important monuments and grave sites: Washington Irving’s burial site, the Receiving Vault, The Revolutionary War Memorial, and the Delavan Angels, among others.
Learning Objectives:
- Consider the development of cemeteries prior to the 20th century in America.
- Reflect on the artistic symbolism found in evolving designs for headstones, monuments, and mausoleums.
- Appreciate the landscape of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.
- Apply lessons learned from recent conservation projects in the cemetery to other projects.
Lyndhurst: Touring a Gothic Revival Masterpiece.
Speakers: Lyndhurst docents; Henry J. Duffy, PhD; Curator Emeritus, Saint-Gaudens NHP and consulting art and architectural historian; Stephen Tilly, AIA, CPHC, LEED AP, and Lyndhurst board of directors ; Krystyn Hastings - Silver, Assistant Director and Capital Projects Manager, Lyndhurst, National Trust for Historic Preservation.
2.5 hours. This tour has been submitted for credit review to the AIA.
Please wear sturdy, weather resistant shoes and plan for rain if the forecast calls for it.
Lyndhurst is often described as the finest Gothic Revival residence in America. Alexander Jackson Davis designed the house for New York politician William Paulding between 1838 and 1842. The house was known as “Knoll.” He returned in 1864 to expand the house, now known as Lyndhurst, for its second owner, George Merritt. The third owner, Jay Gould, commissioned Lord & Burnham to build a fireproof greenhouse out of steel, to replace the wooden one that burned shortly after he purchased the estate. This impressive metal frame remains without glass. The tour will address the rich architectural heritage of several historic buildings on the site, its management and preservation, and include an exploration of the lush grounds and gardens.
Learning Objectives:
- Explain the Gothic Revival style as found in the United States in the mid-19th century.
- Cite problems and solutions to serve thousands of visitors amidst important historic structures, furnishings, and landscapes.
- Describe changes in the property that reflect the needs of owners that have changed over time.
- Experience the health benefits of country retreats designed in the 19th and 20th centuries that can inform design for health-conscious clients today.
Sketching Tour - Lyndhurst
2.5 hours Tuesday
Instructor: David Pearson, David Pearson Architectural Design
This tour has been submitted to the AIA for credit review.
Extensive walking, bring sketch pad, pens, and pencils. Please wear sturdy, weather-resistant shoes. In case of inclement weather, we will sketch from the verandas on the mansion and bowling alley. Limited to 12 people.
The Hudson River is synonymous with the picturesque movement in America. Landscapes, literature, and buildings were created for their views of the natural landscape, designed to inspire awe, relaxation, and invigoration for the well-to-do.
Lyndhurst is often described as the finest Gothic Revival residence in America. Alexander Jackson Davis designed the house for NY politician William Paulding between 1838 and 1842. He returned in 1864 to expand the house, now known as Lyndhurst, for its second owner, George Merritt. The third owner, Jay Gould, commissioned Lord & Burnham to build a fireproof greenhouse out steel to replace the wooden one that burned shortly after he purchased the estate. This impressive metal frame remains without glass. Other buildings include a shingle-style bowling alley, a gatekeeper’s house, a carriage house and more. There is much to draw and much to learn about AJ Davis’s sense of the poetic when he designed the house initially and returned to enhance Lyndhurst. Sketching opportunities abound here.
Learning Objectives:
- Explain why drawing and drafting by hand still trains the eye despite the predominance of computer-driven design today.
- Construct architectural details that will function and look better in situ.
- Design period-inspired buildings based on observation skills that drawing cultivates.
- Improve drawings, whether hand-drawn or done with software, to better communicate with clients, builders, and craftspeople.
5:30 – 5:55 PM
Break
6:00 -7:00 pm
Lecture: Celebrating Hudson River Valley Architecture
7:00 pm
Reception at Tappan Hill Mansion Terrace Overlooking the Hudson River.
Wednesday, October 8
8:00 -9:00 AM
Breakfast, Sponsor Exhibits and Networking
9-9:15 AM
Welcome and Introductions
9:15 -10:15 AM
Acoustics & Fenestration - How Windows & Doors Manage Noise
Speaker: Ted Olear, Territory Sales Manager, Kolbe Windows and Doors
1 AIA Health/Safety/Welfare Learning Unit
This course will provide a foundational understanding of how fenestration systems manage sound and how acoustics affect the experience of space. Upon completing the course, individuals will be able to integrate their knowledge of acoustics into their design—especially with windows and doors.
Learning Objectives:
• Describe how sound changes a space, affecting occupants both physically and psychologically.
• Measure sound with appropriate scales and identify the several ways it can enter the built environment.
• Identify how the key elements of a window and door construction and their interaction with sound are reflected in codes and standards.
• Select windows and doors based on acoustic performance and serve as a resource to clients and collaborators.
10:15 -10:40 AM
Networking and Sponsor Exhibits Break
10:40-11:45 AM
Building a Home to Last: Lessons from the Creative Process...and from Life
Speaker: Gil Schafer, AIA,Schafer Buccellato Architects, New York, NY
This course has been submitted to the AIA for credit review
For thirty years, award-winning architect and bestselling author Gil Schafer has designed houses that meet the demands of the current moment and are also designed to endure. Mr. Schafer has a understands that a house is ultimately, never meant to be about its architect, but about those people whose days and lives will unfold within its walls. His clients attest to this!
In his new book, Home At Last: Enduring Design for the New American House, Gil welcomes readers into a series of new homes, across the country, sharing how his own design evolution has increased his appreciation for the richness, and messiness of modern life. Join Gil Schafer for this lavishly illustrated presentation as he opens the doors to these memorable spaces, offering practical advice on craftsmanship and creativity. He will tell us about the stories, tastes, and lives of his clients that come together in homes that will last for generations to come.
Noon- 12:55 pm
Lunch, and Sponsor Exhibits
12:55- 2:00 pm
Banking on Preservation. Investing in Hospitality
Speakers: Matthew Mueller, AIA; Partner, PBDW Architects, New York, NY and Shawn Basler, AIA, Co-CEO and Executive Director, Perkins and Eastman, New York, NY
This course has been submitted to the AIA for credit review.
The speakers will present about the Fifth Avenue Hotel building in addition to and renovation of McKim Mead & White's historic 1907 bank building in the Madison Square North Historic District in New York City. This 23-story hotel tower addition will sit atop the two-story rear portion of McKim Mead & White’s historic 1907-1913 bank building. In doing so it will complete a fourth and final stage of a century-old progression of the site’s development.
Initial explorations of the site’s possibilities were not favorable, as informal consultations with the Landmarks Preservation Commission indicated that only an addition of four or five stories above the existing two was likely to be approved. However, historic research by PBDW discovered a 1911 New York Times article describing a proposal for a “tall loft building” on the site. By coincidence PBDW’s own, nearby offices were in a “tall loft building” built in 1913. With submission of a copy of the article, thorough data as to what such a building might have been like, and accompanied by illustrative material, the Landmarks Commission was persuaded that a tall building was possible and that the handsome new design was appropriate for the historic district.
Standing on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 28th Street, the boutique hotel includes 133 guestrooms in both the new tower and the renovated six-story existing building, with grand suites on the reconstructed penthouse level of the historic bank building. Ground and second floor development includes hotel lobby services, multiple lounges, a two-story restaurant in the base of the historic banking hall with over-looking dining balconies, and additional facilities and guest amenities.
2:15-6:00 PM
Tours - Choose one:
Touring Washington Irving’s Sunnyside Home
Speakers: Historic Hudson River Valley docents
1.5 hours This tour has been submitted to the AIA for credit review
Renowned author of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” Washington Irving settled in Tarrytown, New York in 1832. He purchased a 17th century, Dutch stone house. With assistance from painter George Harvey, Irving fashioned a romanticized house and garden that would inspire both A.J. Downing and A.J. Davis. We will explore the architectural delights of Irving’s home where, from 1832 till 1859, he welcomed authors and artists from around the world.
Learning Objectives:
- Explain the architectural significance of Sunnyside.
- Relate the design of Sunnyside to the later work of Downing and Davis who cultivated the Gothic Revival in America in the mid-19th century.
- Experience romantic architecture and the natural landscape at a modest scale. Recall its power when designing new work or working on Gothic Revival properties.
- Describe the combined impact of authors, landscape designers, architects, and painters on the Romantic and Picturesque periods in American cultural history.
Or:
Kykuit Tour – Neoclassicism and Modern Art
Speakers: Kykuit docents and Stephen Tilly, AIA, CPHC, LEED AP
2 hours. This tour has been submitted to the AIA for credit review.
Delano and Aldrich designed a Georgian manor house for John D. Rockefeller in 1902. We will visit the house, gardens, and coach barn during this tour. The house and gardens feature the modern art collection of the late New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. The formal neoclassical house has a commanding view of the Hudson River.
Learning Objectives:
- Explain the architectural significance of Kykuit, its gardens and coach barn.
- Discuss the problems and solutions of adapting a private residence into a cultural center visited by thousands of people annually.
- Consider how buildings are sited when designing large estates in historic landscapes with important views.
- Apply lessons learned from the ongoing restoration of the Coach Barn.
See the schedule from our June, 2025 conference in Williamsburg, VA
Earn AIA Learning Units:
The Traditional Building Conference Series is a registered provider of AIA continuing education credits. Credits for ASID, NARI, AIBD, and some NAHB certifications are available.
Check out some of our previous conferences:
Coral Gables, 2021
2020 Virtual Conference
Winston-Salem 2019
Winterthur 2019
Oak Park 2018
Brooklyn 2017
Salem 2017
Charleston 2017
Washington, D.C. 2016
Pittsburgh 2016
New Haven 2016
Frequent & Past Attendees Include:
Robert A.M. Stern Architects
Consiglia Construction
Historical Concepts
Peter Pennoyer Architects
Shawmut Construction
Christman Construction
EYP Architects
Fairfax and Sammons Architects
Glave and Holmes Architects
Shope Reno Architects
Barnes Vanze Architects
Horizon Builders
David M Schwartz Architects
Harrison Design
Schooly Caldwell Architects
The Architect of the U.S. Capitol
The National Park Service
City of Denver
General Services Administration
U.S Department of State
Duke University
Princeton University
MIT
University of Virginia
South Carolina Historic preservation Office
American College of the Building Arts
New York City Landmarks
Past Webinar Attendees Include:
Texas Historical Commission
City of Jacksonville
N.C. State University
Historic Santa Fe Foundation
U.S. Army
City of Hattiesburg MS.
Historic Rehab Contractors Inc.
Metropolitan Restorations Company Inc.
Bell Architects
City of Auburn AL.
Vanderbilt University
Johnson Laskey Architects
Vanccouver Heritage Foundation
Wesleyan University