The Far East
It’s a shame that everyone is playing it so safe these days and sticking to formulas. There was a time when Hamptons architecture tested the modernistic vocabulary and when fantasy was accorded an important place in vacation house concepts. Specialized tastes, perhaps, but quite elegant ones.
Architecture: Long overhangs, verandas, and shaped roofs establish an Asian feeling here with tropical island undertones. Interestingly, with rich materials and high ceilings, the exotic aspect works well.
Site: Paradise is not an exaggeration. Set in a pristine 35-acre reserve on the ocean out east in Montauk, with sweeping views in all directions—ocean, pond, and sunsets.
The inside word: For the most part, people in the Hamptons create their hideaways. In this case nature created it. It’s an interesting house on a spectacular property—at a correspondingly impressive price of $26.350 million.
Leading Edge
Houses at Sagaponac, a much publicized development in Wainscott, is finally getting off the ground—or maybe we should say it is finally getting some houses on the ground. Conceived by developer Coco Brown and architect Richard Meier, the 34-lot subdivision strives to reintroduce adventurous and edgy modern architecture to the area. We like the idea. The validity of the concept will now be tested in the execution.
Architecture: A lean, dynamic shape, with strong horizontal elements and an unusual play of open and closed spaces, designed by the Hariri sisters. The materials are lush and sensual, used with imagination and style.
Site: A wooded 2-acre lot, part of a community in which noted contemporary architects will participate. Located north of the highway on the Wainscott/Sagaponack border.
The inside word: The house is stunningly svelte and sophisticated, though neither extreme nor radical. It’s undeniably good modernism, mostly of a recognizable and tested kind. We have some questions about the location, so far from established prime real estate areas and so close to the airport. But we’ve seen these shifts before and because everyone involved has such good intentions, we’d like to see it all work. Offered at $2.9 million.
Everything’s Coming Up Roses
We’ve seen many eminent properties over the years, and some exalted ones, too. In trying to convey their essence we’ve always avoided hyperbole simply because all new houses and most old houses, even when special, can be replicated. We recently visited Rosemary Lodge, a house that is truly unique and irreplaceable, and that inspires us to superlatives.
Architecture: American shingle style, dating to 1884, though simpler and smaller than typical early estates. As handsome as this house is on the outside, it is the hand carved interior paneling that takes your breath away.
Site: South of the highway in Water Mill on a private acre with pool, the house is on the National and State Register of Historic Places.
The inside word: Henry Turbell Rose, a Protestant minister and amateur woodworker, carved adages and proverbs into the wood panels, created built-ins, mantles and cabinets and made freestanding furniture that is still part of the Rosemary Lodge. Reverend Rose’s legacy is extraordinary, and the house is a rare treasure unlike anything else we know in the Hamptons. Offered at $2.950 million.
Deepwater Diversions
There is a brash kind of fabrication at work in the Hamptons with homeowners trying to achieve an instant version of a century old aesthetic. We see it in rambling, shingle sided houses with mullioned windows, complicated rooflines and heavy brick chimneys—all vaguely reminiscent of the old estates. The splendor is undeniably there even if the originality is not.
Architecture: Pure Hamptons, 21st century traditional style, well executed for the most part, give or take a few fan light windows.
Site: A winning 2.2 acres with a deepwater dock in the estate area of Quogue.
The inside word: It’s all here. The expected array of specialized spaces packed with the hedonistic luxuries constitutionally guaranteed to the affluent crowd, including the newly fashionable rotunda family room. The well-established vocabulary of architectural forms and interior finishing, the location, quality, and sense of prosperity should appeal to buyers. Offered at $4.950 million.