For the team at Robert A.M. Stern Architects, the design of this residence in East Quogue presented an unusual creative challenge that involved reinterpreting the historic regional shingle style the firm had helped revive in the region 30 years earlier. For the home, located on a dune overlooking Long Island’s South Shore, firm partner and lead architect on the project Gary Brewer created exterior elements, such as the arched openings and oceanside color scheme, that were carried inside the home with the interior architecture, also conceived by Brewer, and the decor scheme created by interior designer Steven Gambrel. Rather than feeling excessive, the shades of blue throughout the house give it rhythm and interest. The shingled house’s association with a casual way of summer living make it enduringly appealing.
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The house and adjoining pool sit between a pea gravel motor court and the rear lawn. The master suite and children's bedrooms fill the dutch gambrel roof and dormers; the roofscape suggests the complexity of fitting in all the second-floor rooms.
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A custom side light, with glass rondels, beside the front door.
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The entry porch, with its stone piers and painted Doric columns.
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The entry porch, looking toward the library window. The joints of the stone piers, handrails and clapboard provide an ever-changing play of shadows.
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In the entry hall, to the left of the main stair the large arched opening connects to the dining room.
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The pin-stripe design of the wall boarding alternates a white-painted beaded board with flat boards of red oak finished in a beige-gray. The two arches leading to the living and dining rooms create an open flow from the entry hall and a direct ocean view.
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The living room seating groups arranged around the fireplace were developed by interior designer Steven Gambrel. Large windows and doors open to the panoramic ocean view.
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A large cased archway frames the opening between the living and dining rooms. The pocket door to the left opens to the kitchen.
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From the living room, openings lead to the dining room, entry hall, and bar, with the library beyond.
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The design of the dining room buffet draws on the treatment of the windows and its woven trellises.
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The kitchen combines a traditional aesthetic with a contemporary level of comfort and utility.
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The soft grey hand-painted finish on the cabinets and glazed wall tiles evoke seashells and driftwood.
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In the family room, the elliptical windows and large chandelier selected by Steven Gambrel provide a dramatic geometric contrast to the hand-finished oak beams and beaded-board ceiling.
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In the library, antiqued oak walls are paired with a plaster ceiling overlaid with a Chinoiserie fretwork. A wall sculpture by Louise Nevelson relates to the geometry and color of the ceiling.
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The stair rises within a dormer topped by an arched window featuring a Gothic fan light.
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An operable elliptical window in a second-floor stair hall alcove.
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The second-floor stair landing features a shallow vaulted ceiling and enfilade of arched cased openings.
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The master sitting room, at the end of the second-floor hall, continues the vault-and-beam motif. Above the window seat a diamond-patterned window combines milk glass and transparent panes.
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In the master bedroom, a boat-like bow ceiling sits within a dutch gambrel roof. The antique mirror above the fireplace conceals a TV; beyond the expansive Palladian window, a small balcony faces the ocean.
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The tub sits in an alcove with a view over the dining room porch roof.
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In the master bathroom, a dressing table stands between twin vanities. The pattern in the floor and doors brings in the "woven" motif found throughout the interior and exterior details of the house.
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An ocean-facing window seat alcove in one of the children's rooms is the width of a double bed, an ideal situation for sleepovers.
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A tub alcove in one of the children's bathrooms is set into a dormer with an arched Gothic window looking toward Shinnecock Bay.
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In a child's bedroom, the shaped ceiling follows the form of the gambrel roof.
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The playful swag detail, which gives the banquette alcove the flavor of a proscenium, draws on a Swedish precedent.
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The ground-level Summer Room, which opens to the side garden, serves as a game and media room and as a casual communal space for the bedrooms that open to it.
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The round dining porch is enriched with a lively pattern of exposed rafters and a "globe" chandelier.
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Bow-shaped rafters and a nautical-themed trellis connect the space to the dunes and pool.
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Amenities at the pool include a cabana and a generous pool porch just outside the family room. A fireplace extends the use of pool porch into the cooler weather.
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The west facade of the home at dusk.
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