American, b. 1943
Everardo Jefferson, AIA, is a co-founder and principal of Caples Jefferson Architects PC (CJA), an award-winning design and architecture firm based in New York City. Everardo’s practice centers on the intersection of social equity, education, and culture; since its founding in 1987, CJA has remained committed to performing at least half its work in communities that have historically been underserved by the design professions.
Among CJA’s most notable projects are Queens Theatre-in-the-Park, which expanded a former World’s Fair building in Flushing Meadows, Queens, into a public theater; the Weeksville Heritage Center, a museum, performance, and educational program space built around a rediscovered freedmen’s preservation site in Crown Heights, Brooklyn; and the Louis Armstrong Center, a museum and administrative building that complement the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Corona, Queens.
Everardo holds an undergraduate degree in Industrial Design from the Pratt Institute and a Master of Architecture from Yale University. He has taught and lectured at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, MIT, and the City College of New York, among others, and has served as the William B. and Charlotte Shepherd Davenport Visiting Professor and the Louis I. Kahn Visiting Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Architecture. Everardo has served on the boards of the Neighborhood Charter School in Harlem and the Family Justice Center, and, since 2019, has acted as Commissioner of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Alongside Sara, he co-authored the monograph Many Voices: Architecture for Social Equity, which was published in 2022.
Among CJA’s most notable projects are Queens Theatre-in-the-Park, which expanded a former World’s Fair building in Flushing Meadows, Queens, into a public theater; the Weeksville Heritage Center, a museum, performance, and educational program space built around a rediscovered freedmen’s preservation site in Crown Heights, Brooklyn; and the Louis Armstrong Center, a museum and administrative building that complement the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Corona, Queens.
Everardo holds an undergraduate degree in Industrial Design from the Pratt Institute and a Master of Architecture from Yale University. He has taught and lectured at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, MIT, and the City College of New York, among others, and has served as the William B. and Charlotte Shepherd Davenport Visiting Professor and the Louis I. Kahn Visiting Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Architecture. Everardo has served on the boards of the Neighborhood Charter School in Harlem and the Family Justice Center, and, since 2019, has acted as Commissioner of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Alongside Sara, he co-authored the monograph Many Voices: Architecture for Social Equity, which was published in 2022.
