The expansive deep porch of the classic Southampton home featured here was so integral to the interior and exterior design work to come that both the architectural designer and the landscape architect labeled it the “knuckle,” the element from which everything else was emanated. “It was a semi-affectionate term we adopted,” says Mike Kaiser, the Nashville-based landscape architect for the project, speaking also for Ray Booth, the architectural designer responsible for a series of new buildings on the property as well as the redesign of the existing Victorian-era house. “The porch became the key organizing feature.”
Booth, who has offices in Nashville and New York City and frequently collaborates with Kaiser, seconds the assessment, adding, “Everything we did, inside and out, engaged with that porch.” In fact, Booth even ended up expanding the porch further so that it nearly wraps around the seven-bedroom home, keeping the idea of his clients’ desire for a “multigenerational family-gathering place” in mind.
The residence, with its many gables, projecting dormers, bay windows, and pillared porch, had long been an architectural fixture within Southampton’s North Main Street Historic District. Although Town codes prevented Booth from altering too much more of the exterior, he did undertake a gut renovation inside. Typical of houses of the period, rooms were often boxy, with little organic flow from one space to another. By reconfiguring the layout, Booth created a first floor he characterizes as “emotionally light and bright and welcoming.” Now, from the foyer, the full breadth of the house is visible: a straight shot through to a new back wing featuring a stairwell, breakfast and sitting rooms, and a kitchen. “When you walk in, you see sunshine running all the way through,” he says.
The living room features a Hickory Chair sofa covered in a Mokum fabric and a custom settee designed by McAlpine and covered in a Holly Hunt fabric.
In the dining room, seating pieces from Lee Industries surround a David Iatesta table. The chandelier is from Riloh.
Pendants from Riloh hang above a custom island and Hickory Chair barstools in the primary kitchen.
The back kitchen includes a custom table and shelves designed by McAlpine and fabricated by Just Plane Wood.
A mirror from Lucca Antiques hangs above a vanity from Urban Archaeology in a powder room.
The primary bedroom is furnished with a Stewart Furniture bed and a custom settee covered in a Larsen fabric. The plaster shell pendant is from Hollywood at Home.
The primary bath features floor tiles from Cancos Tile & Stone and a tub from Waterworks.
Seating pieces from Munder Skiles flank a fountain designed by Mike Kaiser.
In the renovated barn, pendants from Visual Comfort & Co. loom above a Parsons billiards table from RH, and a vintage Egg chair by Nanna Ditzel hangs next to an Otto chair by Paola Lenti.
Landscape designer Mike Kaiser of Nashville-based Kaiser Trabue designed the luscious grounds, which center on a dark-bottomed pool.
While deeply respecting the integrity and original bones of the house, Booth decorated the rooms with a combination of period antiques and decidedly clean, contemporary, neutral-hued furnishings meant to suit “a young, modern family”and the way they live. “We strived to create something that transcends different time periods,” he says. “Some of the furnishings are certainly different from what you’d find in a typical Hamptons house of this era.” To wit: steel-framed sofas, a Saarinen table in the breakfast room that’s graced by a custom curved bench, and walnut and steel bedside tables in the primary suite. “The intent was to give the house multiple dimensions and layers.”
In addition to reconfiguring the floor plan and furnishing all the rooms, Booth designed a series of outbuildings, notably a pool cabana and guesthouse. He also renovated (and relocated) an existing barn, transforming it into an entertainment pavilion equipped with a pool table, an air hockey table, and a whimsical Nanna Ditzel Egg chair. “This is not just a house,” he emphasizes, “it’s a compound.”
Punctuating the multiacre spread is an elegant pool designed by Kaiser. “The geometry of the pool is related to the geometry of the house, and the hedges and rows of trees reinforce the internal geometry,” says Kaiser, who also makes note of the pool’s dark bottom, which creates more reflections and absorbs heat more quickly than a standard-issue pool. The trellis-topped gate and sheared privet border are not only quintessentially Hamptons, but also disguise the required pool fencing around the perimeter. Elsewhere, a wire fence is cleverly concealed with hedges of holly. “While the white gates of the trellis remain visible, you never feel fenced in or apart from the rest of the property,” Kaiser comments. Equally evocative, a spray of lavender surrounds a burbling circular fountain.
The “sheer complexity” of the project was both a welcome challenge and ultimately rewarding, muses Booth. “To be able to take a historic property with so many provisions to adhere to and end up with something this beautiful is something
I really appreciate and am proud of. The project required restraint and respect for the house’s history, but those restrictions proved to be a springboard for creativity.”