A humble home in the Hamptons. There was a time – say, when Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner settled into their little place on the Island – that something simple far from the city was the ideal, at least to those not to the manor born. The silk stocking crowd, of course, had laid their claim decades earlier. In 1893, the New York Times enthused, “Exclusive – in the best sense of the word – society here is represented in the summer by its choicest spirits.”
A hundred years later, massive houses were going up left and right, owned by the likes of Calvin Klein, Billy Joel and Time Warner chieftain Steve Ross. Today, building big remains popular, but not every Manhattanite looking for a break from the Big Apple is out to score some serious square footage. For one art-loving couple, transforming a very old fisherman’s cottage into a bright, inviting home – not a showplace – was agenda enough.
At 3800 square feet, this house overlooking Accabonac Harbor in East Hampton is no shack. But in scale and style, it is the antithesis of the statement home. It had been previously altered from its original incarnation as a rough workingman’s accommodation when architect Javier Robles was asked to enhance its livability by expanding the guest bedrooms and creating a new primary bedroom, a library-cum-gallery and an indoor pool pavilion.
From the drive, the cedar-clad structure could be mistaken for a modified barn or some other very useful, no-nonsense outbuilding. The water side of the property – more glass than wood – expresses a clearly residential aspect rendered in a simple geometry. Robles, who maintains offices in New York and Miami, rejiggered the existing interiors and then built up and out to fulfill his clients’ program. The new second story, accessed by a concrete staircase with a vaguely Incan aspect, is a loft-like affair comprising the primary bedroom and a spacious sitting area with room for a desk and lots of books. Scaled to accommodate large works of art, the high-ceilinged volume is generously illuminated by a series of large clerestory windows.
Zoning restrictions – keyed to respect the delicate environment of Accabonac Harbor – and the sober desires of his clients dictated the ambition of Robles’ design. It was, he admits, a somewhat humbling experience. “I did not have carte blanche,” explains Robles, who was raised in Peru and studied architecture in Brazil at the University of São Paulo and in New York at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. “This building is more about the program than the design. But I love the final product. It’s kind of an odd shape. The wood and linear design, and the terraces and windows at the back, make me think of a boat.”
Perhaps the most telling indication of the architect’s inventive approach within these constraints is the new indoor pool pavilion, which is situated parallel to the house. An enclosed space with a wall of accordion windows at one end, it was initially conceived as a more open area. Eight months into the project, much of which was taken up with permits, the clients bought a new condo in the city and asked Robles to turn his attention there. By the time he resumed work on the house in the Hamptons, they had decided they wanted the pool to be a more private amenity. “A sanctuary,” describes Robles. The pool and surrounding walls are clad with white Carrera, the enveloping uniformity evoking something of a Roman bath. Visible through a window in the living room, this skylit pool adds a visual and ambient depth to the interior of the home.
“This house was a process, a slow process,” notes Robles. “It took about a year and a half just to get all the permits. And the more I got to know the clients, the more I understood how they were to use this house.” Occupied nearly every weekend, the house had to function to satisfy both everyday needs when the homeowners were alone and on those occasions when they entertained. Like a good meal served simply, this unpretentious home is solid proof that living well doesn’t have to mean living large.
Photography by Fran Parente.
For more like this Hamptons getaway from Javier Robles, be sure to check out this chic seasonal home.
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