Karen L. Jacobson Architects Studio

North Haven

The owners had searched for a large property in the Hamptons where they could keep their seaplane and several boats. This seven-acre property on Shelter Island Sound had a rambling ranch house near the water. The owners had the idea of dividing the ranch house into two smaller houses and moving them up the hill to make houses for guests and staff. A little sauna building also was moved and made into a writer’s studio.

The owners are from the south and had no connection to the northern shingle style house so popular in the Hamptons. Instead, they desired a southern style plantation house, and so the historic plantation house style was studied and modernized. Wrap around traditional porches were incorporated on both sides of the house. The long winding driveway was paved with crushed oyster shells. Wide board floors were imported from an old barn in New England. The existing dock got extended and redesigned to accept the seaplane and small fleet of boats. The house became an idiosyncratic expression of the unique personalities of the owners and a great place to party.