2023 Holiday House Hamptons Makes the Case for Modern in Both Architecture and Art

In 2008, designer and breast cancer survivor Iris Dankner came up with a novel concept: a showhouse challenging participating designers to allow their spaces to be inspired by an actual holiday or special moments in life.

Her mission was personal, to raise funds for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the organization founded in 1993 by the late Evelyn Lauder, whose sole purpose is to end breast cancer by advancing the world’s most promising research. To date, the BCRF, as it is known, has raised more than $1 billion.

When Iris decided to expand the concept beyond an annual showhouse in New York City to an additional summer effort in the Hamptons, a local beneficiary was added: the Ellen Hermanson Foundation, which supports the Ellen Hermanson Breast Center at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. After two years of full-fledged Hamptons showhouses prior to the pandemic, Holiday House Hamptons first went virtual, then reduced its scope to two years of one-night-only tabletop design events. This year marks its return to the classic showhouse format, albeit in a far-from-classic Hamptons house — a minimalist residence with nary a shingle or shutter. Developed on speculation by BJC Custom Homebuilders, the house presents itself as an arrangement of boxes and right angles completely clad in interlocking panels of two contrasting maintenance-free composite materials, punctuated by deeply tinted windows.

Expressive contemporary architecture has always had a place in the Hamptons. Consider Norman Jaffe’s dune-hugging, sculptural compositions or Charles Gwathmey’s East Hampton modernist masterpiece. When they were built, they were in response to the status quo of the Hamptons’ most common stylistic vocabulary, that of traditional, shingle-style houses. This year’s Holiday House Hamptons designer showhouse suggests that more homebuyers than not want slick, edgy houses now, replete with the kind of sophisticated but simple decor that makes good bedfellows with highly geometric, austere architecture. So it’s out with the patina, in with the polish. Only time will tell how long this trend will last, but judging by the sheer number of high-style, sleek residences popping up in potato fields and along shorelines across the South Fork, the appetite for modern is robust.

Dankner, a contemporary art aficionado, couldn’t agree more. “When I found the house, it was exciting to me. It’s the perfect backdrop for art,” she said.

And as far as showhouses go, this one decidedly says, “Come for the art, stay for the décor.”

While there’s a plethora of thought-provoking pieces, the interiors are almost uniformly modern, neutral and/or restrained. There are, however, many standout spaces that inspire, whether one is searching for the cerebral or the celebratory.

Consider the soaring entry designed by Melanie Roy. It features a dramatic floating staircase with glass railings and pale wood and brushed metal trim. But that pales in comparison to the Dainte “Water Splash” chaise, a beguiling crystalline acrylic piece that suggests a highly magnified water droplet in motion.

Off the entry, Chicago designer Gil Melott went the metaphysical route in his high-concept dining room, mixing modern pieces with accents of antiquity. “I liked the idea of thinking about all the spirits, past and present, here on the East End, and imagined a room where they could all gather for dinner,” he said.

Seasoned designer Barbara Ostrom skewed the most transitional, with her small study informed by the song “By the Sea,” whose lyrics are decoratively painted around the room’s perimeter. A Gray Malin aerial beach photograph inspired the palette of sand and aqua, alongside a few classical touches such as a traditional chair upholstered in a mermaid print and seashell-encrusted objet.

In typical open-plan style, the family living area by Elsa Soyers flows uninterrupted into the kitchen. Again, a neutral scheme dominates, but is given punch by a colorful neon-accented piece that may or may not be Barbra Streisand.

The second floor hallway and gallery by Meredith Fish exhibits the house’s most topical piece: a lightbox by Bonnie Lautenberg titled “Tears of Roe” depicts a crying Statue of Liberty accompanied by the dates that Roe v. Wade was decided and then overturned.

The space transcends into a floating bridge of a lounge area by designer Christian Siriano, known mostly for his red-carpet evening gowns. He said, of his extension from fashion to décor, “It’s a different part of the brain.” This space, too, is dominated by art — a large abstract painting by Jason Craighead titled “Everyone Is Home Here.”

In Tisha Colette’s home office, a glamorous approach was taken, what with its accents of crystal and gold. But it’s Bert Stern’s iconic photograph of Marilyn Monroe wearing nothing but high heels and her birthday suit, coyly draping herself in a floor length chinchilla coat, that steals the show. “It was the last photo shoot of her life,” Colette said.

The primary suite, by Kim Radovich, is the only space in the house to employ scenic wallcovering. An accent wall covered in a plush, featherlike textile by Arte depicts a tropical forest filled with lush foliage and fauna. “I love all coastal things, from Malibu to the Hamptons,” Radovich said.

Campion Platt, one of the three male designers in the entire showhouse, teamed up with fellow University of Michigan school of design classmate Kim Dent, a designer based in Detroit. Their cabana and pool terrace was guided by Michael Gaillard’s large format photograph of Nantucket. Again, it’s a composition of neutrals with bits of watery shades of green and blue. “My theme was escape,” Platt said. What’s not to like about that?

The 2023 Holiday House Hamptons, which benefits both the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and the Ellen Hermanson Foundation, features the contributions of over 20 talented designers and is at 237 Mitchell Lane in Bridgehampton. It will be open to the public on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through August 27. Additional special events are also planned. For a full schedule, tickets and more information, visit holidayhousehamptons.com.