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After traveling to West Africa in 1960—“I wanted to go there ever since I saw Princess Elizabeth touring the African colonies when I was nine,” he said—Mr. Larsen said he was inspired to design his first home in the Hamptons, which he named Round House and was modeled after the dwellings he saw in Bantu villages.
Under his green thumb, Round House’s extensive gardens flourished. He reported that he was happy there for many years.
But in the summer of 1986, Mr. Larsen visited the rambling Santa Fe adobe home of Stanley Marcus of Neiman Marcus fame, whom Mr. Larsen considered his “adopted big brother.” It was there that he discovered the concept of “waste space.”
“Stanley’s home had several rooms with no other purpose but to hold art. Round House lacked that sense of space. So it gave me the idea to sell it and build afresh on the property next door,” said Mr. Larsen, who in 1975 had fortuitously bought 12 adjoining acres as “future protection” along the north drive of Round House.
Unfortunately, the LongHouse acreage—long-abandoned 19th century farmland overrun with white and red oaks and infested with poison ivy, wild grape and bittersweet vines—had few of the amenities of Round House. But that didn’t stop Mr. Larsen from clearing the trees, planting thousands of mail-ordered Canadian hemlocks along the old farming boundaries, adding hundreds of dogwoods, beeches and other trees, installing luscious flower gardens and digging a large south-facing lily and lotus pond.
Construction on the house began in 1986, with Mr. Larsen sketching a floor plan and architect Charles Forberg focusing on the mechanical matters, codes and contracts. Together they collaborated on the selection of materials and finishes.
One of the decisions made was to install a small, three-level glass Elevette elevator in the light-filled stairway hall, as well as a 65-foot skylight running down the peak of the main wing.
The ultimate goal was to create a house that was an “alternative to the norm” and a “case study to show people ideas for a modern house that wasn’t necessarily a white box,” he said.
In addition to the conservatory on the second floor, Mr. Larsen designed a large skylighted living room which leads to a veranda that overlooks the lotus pond—dubbed “Peter’s Pond”—as well as kitchen and dining space, a breezeway, and a sitting room that leads to his “non bedroom” and dressing area.
Walking through the main living room, Mr. Larsen pointed out several of the room’s standout pieces, including several mid-century Larsen-designed furnishings and a 1949 Edward Wormley sofa which sits atop Anni Alber’s Bauhaus-style rug. The room’s Heatilator brand fireplace was influenced by the one found at Villa Savoye in France, one of architect Le Corbusier’s most famous houses.
Also on display throughout the house is an eclectic and diverse collection of objects in a wide variety of styles, many of them museum quality, that Mr. Larsen has been assembling for more than 50 years.
East Asian ceramics—some 1,000 years old—mingle with ethnographic baskets from dozens of cultures and contemporary pottery from England and China. Every room provides a visual feast for the eyes.
An elaborate skirt cloth worn by a king in the Congo hangs on the living room wall. “Imagine, they live on the equator and wear up to 100 yards of fabric just for status,” he noted.
Mr. Larsen also has the largest collection of work by revered Pennsylvania craftsman Wharton Esherick—outside the artist’s own collection—including a massive 1935 wooden arch that serves as the living room’s door surround. Mr. Larsen’s Esherick pieces include a kitchen table and chairs made for the 1939 World’s Fair, as well as a cubist-inspired mirror, and shelf and stools in the kitchen/dining area.
After a “clumsy housekeeper” broke some valuable ceramics, the pragmatic designer was inspired to install dozens of sliding doors—covered in signature Larsen fabrics—over glass display shelves. He proudly noted how this system, used throughout the home, has a structural quality and keeps dusting to a minimum.
A breezeway off the kitchen leads to the cozy, cocoon-like sitting room, with its white ceramic Swedish stove and tan damask covered ceiling and walls. Here at the computer-less wooden desk, Mr. Larsen signs copies of his memoirs and corresponds with his many colleagues and fans.
A painting by abstract expressionist painter Gus Lieber (also an East Ender) of designer Andree Putman hangs on the wall. But what stands out is a small black-and-white photograph, perhaps the only photograph on display in the house, of the late Elaine Benson, a close friend who was the founder of Bridgehampton’s famed Elaine Benson Gallery.
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