Aaaah, it doesn’t get much better than this. Designed by Robert AM Stern, the former dean of the Yale School of Architecture, and completed in 1975, this house is a landmark of postmodern design, worthy of note by such critics as Vincent Scully and Paul Goldberger. Yes! This means it’s time to impress your guests with your knowledge of postwar American architecture!
Save that till after dinner. Everyone will be in a great mood after a long, hard day lounging around the pool sipping drinks or on Main Beach. Then you can modestly point out the views of Hook Pond, which this property abuts, of course the ocean, and even the Maidstone Club’s seventh hole.
The house was originally designed for Norman and Carol Mercer, an artist and a landscape designer. As people will, the owners had gradually changed their house over the years. After their deaths, the couple next door, Jeffrey Gates and R. Michael Moran, worried that the house would be demolished by a spec builder, so they bought it intending to use it as a guest house.
The pair then restored the place to the original specs, in accordance with the Robert AM Stern Foundation, removing a greenhouse and art studio. The clean lines that Stern designed are now clearly evident, especially the octagon shapes, a favorite of Stern’s. For instance, in the upper living room (octagonal), Gates and Moran added an octagonal rug attributed to Stern and a smoked-glass coffee table by the architect. Smoked glass–so 70s! (Probably not a good idea to announce to your guests you’ll be having a key party later.)
So, down to the nitty gritty: the house is 6,263-square-feet, with seven bedrooms and seven baths. 2.2 acres of land provide for plenty of privacy (not to mention a nice view of Main Beach fireworks). Interested? MD-LD will run you $250,000, or even better, rent all year round for $395,000. Mike Moran at Elliman has the listing.
33 Ocean Ave, East Hampton, NY 11937
