Big Hideaway Estate Looms Small

The large house has been reviled in recent years. That breed of house, the poster child for unbridled conspicuous consumption, is viewed not only as an evil, fuel-guzzling monster during our ongoing energy crisis but also as an ogre for its display of wealth—an expression of insensitivity in a time of near financial collapse. So, blithely, the Hamptons goeth.

No matter how much privet is planted, these McMonsters still dwarf their sites and propel the scale of civilized neighborhoods to a near steroidal level. Townships can pass all the social engineering energy legislation and zoning changes they want to limit energy consumption and house size, but it’s really up to architects and their clients to take responsibility and make a difference both as a good neighbors and as stewards of the environment.

On a 2½-acre site in Georgica in East Hampton, the architect Andrew Weiss, AIA, has taken a bull by the horns and wrestled it to the ground in his design for a traditionally inspired, intelligently sited and efficiently fueled, 10,000-square-foot house completely hidden from view. Mr. Weiss, who grew up in East Hampton and has an affinity for the pluralistic architecture of the East End landscape, worked closely with his husband-and-wife clients to create a new traditional home inspired by Ochre Point (1884), the shingle-style house designed for merchant prince Robert Goelet by McKim, Mead & White in Newport, Rhode Island.

For this Georgica house, Mr. Weiss adapted many of the shingle-style elements from Ochre Point, albeit scaled down, to make them practical for 21st-Century living. Features include conical bay turrets as well as fascias, frieze boards and windowsill horns (horizontal sill extensions) that wrap the house like a Christmas present while simultaneously diminishing the scale of the façade. Other elements of note consist of simple, painted trim conceived to prevent the penetration of wind-driven rain; screened and subsumed porches (indented into the mass of the house); catty-cornered bay windows; a welcoming two-story entrance hall containing a restored antique door ensemble and fanlight; and a large Queen Anne window situated over the landing between floors.

Of course the exterior walls are ubiquitously clad in sensible cedar shingles, which, according to the architect Jacquelin Robertson, provide “the best raincoat ever invented.” While Sgrafitto panels (inlayed plaster, sometimes with pebbledash, surrounding a drawn pattern in wood) were used on the exterior walls at Ochre Point, both client and architect decided that they would be a bit too much here.

The approach to the house, situated on a flag lot adjacent to Montauk Highway, follows a gravel drive with tall privet on the left and a high berm to the right. The house façade pokes lightly through the privet as one nears a parking area at the end of the driveway. To the left is the drive-thru, an arched brick opening under a sky bridge, leading to a forecourt that separates the multi-car garage wing on the right, with living quarters above, from the house and its main entrance on the left. On the far side of the forecourt, however, is the focal point, an existing, two-story natural dune now landscaped and secured with a retaining wall and fountain at its base, part of a conservation and drainage easement that buffers the property both visually and acoustically from the chaos of Montauk Highway beyond.

Once inside the entrance hall, the visitor can go either upstairs to the bedrooms or proceed left to a hall gallery that passes alongside the south-facing public rooms and terminates at the kitchen wing. There is mudroom access to the forecourt from the north side of the kitchen and to the backyard terrace on the south side overlooking the pool with its whimsical cabanas at the far end. It is here that the rationale for the entire layout of the property becomes clear.

By running the pool alongside the driveway privet and perpendicular to the house, Mr. Weiss was able to maximize the open space in the backyard to create a park-like setting. Additionally, the placement of the pool to the side eliminates covered-pool syndrome and a truly moribund view in winter months.

A raised area of lawn opposite the pool serves as a ceremonial space for events and play. There is a path behind the cabanas alongside a vegetable garden that leads up to the top of the conservation easement where another surprise comes into play. Seen from the top of this dune, the roof of the house flattens out across several feet in order to meet the height limit of the zoning ordinance. From ground level this flat roof section is completely imperceptible and leaves the viewer with the impression that the house is simply a peaked roof structure—quite a sleight of hand on Mr. Weiss’s part.

The basement comprises about one-quarter of the habitable space, with windows opening onto areaways bringing natural light into the recreation room and home gym while also fulfilling code-mandated egress requirements. A wine cellar and mechanical space—housing an energy-efficient state-of-the-art gas-fired mechanical system—fill the rest of the floor plan.

Interior designers Tom Samet and Ross Meltzer conceived a thematically consistent scheme throughout in terms of color palette, fabrics, textures and finishes, along with nicely scaled, comfortable arrangements of even more comfortable furniture. These designers worked as a team with both the architect and owners to deliver what they do so very well: a home that feels totally real.

In a small setting, this house projects the feeling of being in a world unto itself. It does not want to stand out and scream for attention. The easements and setback requirements reduced the buildable area of the property to just 1 acre but it may as well sit on 50 for all of the privacy and tranquility it provides.

None of this would have happened, however, without the collaboration and care taken among all parties involved. Done right, a large house really can loom small.