Since the 1960s, Fire Island, New York, has welcomed fun-loving summer renegades who eschew more famous coastal communities for this barefoot one. Famous for its artistic and flamboyant denizens and its afternoon al fresco parties, it’s also a historic national seashore with deer roaming free alongside the piping plovers and billowing dunes. Two new residents, shoe designer Brian Atwood and Jake Deutsch, a media-friendly physician, were drawn here for the relaxed vibe and natural beauty but also the stunning homes – the two have a penchant for good living, house first.
Here on this slip of land just an hour outside Manhattan is a collection of influential homes built in the 1960s and 1970s. Modernist, minimal, and wrought of cedar, these homes, writer Fred Bernstein noted, “are not extensions of city life, with all its complications, but more like escape pods, with decks spread out around them like landing pads.” This particular one was at times home to iconic fashion designer Halston and music mogul David Geffen. (Can you even imagine the parties?)