Property of Mr. and Mrs. Otto Spaeth, East Hampton, Long Island | Architects: George Nelson and Gordon Chadwick

Is the house shown here really modern? Or is it just the opposite? Here is the story behind it. Though it was built in the 20th century, it looks over its shoulder at a house the great Stanford White designed in the 19th. It is the product of its site: sitting the rolling dunes of Long Island comfortably. It looks out to sea through ample windows, but it is in no way a "glassy" house, being wisely enclosed against buffeting autumnal storms. Its materials are as traditional as you please, with reminiscent bays angled into shingled walls. Yet it is a very modern house indeed, if you will accept as a definition a house that uses today's techniques to serve today's way of living. The requirements: a year-round house open and sunny in summer, snug in winter; room for the owners to entertain two upcoming generations expansively; a becoming setting for modern paintings and sculptures that expect excellent light; and a view wherever you are, with glare and rain held equally at bay. At no sacrifice of charm, each requirement was met with skillful and sensitive planning. And beyond the house, outside facing the ocean, a pair of broad sundecks comprise a setting in which the family can entertain itself and its friends.

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source: House and Garden Magazine | July 1958