Artist Oz Van Rosen Fuses History and Modernism at the 'Moz Home'

In a community ignited by artists, Atterbury Hills is riding the wave, summoning an honest and intriguing resident: Oz Van Rosen.

As a working artist herself, and this being the estate that inspired her to become one, Van Rosen has delivered her talents masterfully when renovating and reinventing her modern home, one that tells a sentimental narrative situated on grounds of fascinating historic value.

Referred to as the “Moz Home,” it sits at the very top of 2.5 acres of Atterbury Hills’ romantic rolling bluffs with views of Shinnecock Bay. The original structure was built in 1887 by Stanford White and, after a tragic fire in 1911, rebuilt by Grosvenor Atterbury, both renowned Gilded Age architects.

Atterbury’s father, Charles, had been heavily involved in birthing Southampton’s arts community. Alongside Samuel Parrish, he made his mark by donating land for the Art Village at the Shinnecock Hills Summer School of Arts. Led by renowned impressionist William Merritt Chase, the school drew rising artists, including Rockwell Kent, Joseph Stella, Gifford Beal and Atterbury himself. It was the first plein air art school in the United States, with a focus on landscape painting.

The Moz Home served as Atterbury’s personal estate until his death in 1956 and was rebuilt in 1970 by Harry Bates, the late founding father of Hamptons modernism and partner of Bates Masi + Architects in East Hampton.

Bates’s 1970s reimagining of the house was a boxy contrast to the former classical and often-curved red brick structure. Leaning into this contrast, some of the original house’s circular ruins still grace the grounds of the property, which Van Rosen intentionally integrated with the modern house, cementing the deep-rooted creative lineage and exuding a taste of the Italian countryside.

This brings us to 2020, when Van Rosen decided to put her own take on the property, working with builder Blair Dibble.

“The house was in complete disrepair. It hadn’t been touched since the ’70s,” she said. “My partner had no interest in renovating and thought I was nuts for attempting this project, but the grounds were a unique, once-in-a-lifetime.”

The original, cedar façade was “completely covered with moldy green-white cottage cheese stucco,” she recalled, and the interior — decorated with Baroque Roman accents — was painted in the famous Sant Ambroeus pink, noting that the hospitality group’s founders were former owners of the home. And the floors, she said, were pink and beige travertine, a major departure from the midcentury Bates aesthetic.

“When we started renovating, I wanted to marry all the architectural styles while putting my own mark,” she said. “I designed the siding, or ‘envelope of the house,’ in a style that mirrored my early artwork. My first works were obsessive studies of lines. In a time that was defined by lots of turmoil, the appeal of lines for me was the creation of order out of disorder. I found a way to turn the pixels of my photography into a series of thick and thin lines. I chose Garapa wood, also known as Brazilian ash, because of its clear nature, hardness and sustainability.

“At the time, builders were unfamiliar with this wood as siding,” she continued, “but I took a risk and had the wood etched with literally thousands of lines on 8,000 square feet of siding.”

Replacing many of the home’s walls with glass gave it an easily transitional feel and, as Van Rosen put it, the house was an “afterthought,” with the majority of the design focused on the outdoors.

The property is a salute to a Japanese minimalistic aesthetic, which promotes zen and nature while actively complementing midcentury style. The landscape merges this admirable quality with a European zest and has formulated an incredible bond of different worlds and aspects.

Van Rosen is one of the founders of the Techspressionism art movement, a 21st century artistic approach in which electronic technology is the primary means of emotional expression. Her personal process involves “creative destruction by randomly bending and corrupting image data,” which is then mixed with traditional paints.

Van Rosen confidently dove into every aspect of design offered by the property: interiors, custom furniture, art and finally landscape, which she feels is the greatest art form because it comprises not only the three dimensions of space, but also the fourth dimension of time.

“Next year is the year of designing garden sculptures,” she said.

Predominantly focused on neutrals in her interiors, the art is where color shines and brings an effervescent pop. Treating the walls as her own canvas, Van Rosen rotates the pieces when she feels an appropriate desire, providing the home with a masterful turnover of excitement.

The primary bedroom is graced with Venetian plaster, swiftly flowing into the vast en suite bathroom that is artistically designed in alabaster travertine. Twelve massive, meticulously vein-matched slabs create the impression of walking through a solid piece of 3D cut stone. Van Rosen proudly continues the line motif with this choice of stone, carrying it through from the exterior and once again marrying the outdoors to the interior in harmonious sync.

Black-leathered belvedere countertops outfit the kitchen, bringing a concentrated fluidity accompanied by black white oak cabinets. Expansive and elongated elegance, the tide that links the kitchen, dining area and living room is seamless and invites ease.

Every bedroom looks out to views of the grounds, their large windows acting as active picture frames to the luscious outdoor landscape. Dark walls in the guest bedrooms unite a sexy eloquence with midcentury furniture thoughtfully speckled throughout.

Van Rosen’s Moz Home is more than a historic property. It is a living canvas that blends legacy with bold vision. Through thoughtful design and artistic risk, she has transformed it into a space that honors the rich past of White, Atterbury and Bates, while adding her own chapter to its creative story.