A beach house architect Hobart D. Betts designed for himself, his wife, and three children

Winner of a citation for outstanding residential architecture, the beach house architect Hobart D. Betts designed for himself, his wife, and three children, is an out-and-out departure from stereotype. Small (1,150 square feet), built on a canal running through the dunes in Quogue, L. I., the house began as a simple 9-pile square, and ended -because of the dramatic juxtaposition of its steep sloping roofs-as a landscape punctuation mark. Cupped like a fledgling in a nest of big, old-fashioned cottages, the house is carefully oriented for privacy, while its nonconformist fenestration is designed to make the most of the view the canal with its flotilla of boats, and 400 yards away-the ocean. The two stories accommodate a sweeping living-dining-kitchen area, four bedrooms, and two baths, and the interior space is amazingly varied for so small a structure. In quick, startling contrast to the dining-kitchen area with its conventional flat ceiling, the living area soars almost to the top of the house. Similarly, the upstairs bedrooms have shed-roof ceilings, sharply pitched, while the bedroom downstairs is a nice roomy cube. It is this play of space against space, some of it lofty, some of it low, that gives the house panache and, at the same time, complements its comfort.

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source: House and Garden Magazine | June 1966