In a monochromatic world, where a white box has become the default for bland real estate stage setting, a summer home painted to match a set of Hollywood veneers can feel cliché.
Perhaps that’s why black and charcoal-gray facades and accents are trending on the East End.
“I changed the trim on my shingled cottage from a greenish blue inspired by Martha Stewart to black,” says Hamptonite and Corcoran broker Arlene Reckson. “I changed my roof to black. Right now, if you are doing shingles, or updating a modern home, black is the more desired color.”
A black steel-beam structure at 27 Meadowlark Lane in Sag Harbor, encased in planks with a black-stained finish, is one example of the trend currently on the market.
Built in 2020 by Garnett-DePasquale Projects, the four-bedroom, six-bathroom house won an Archi Award commendation from the American Institute of Architects Long Island Chapter for its “quiet presence.”
With 3,852 square feet, a wood-burning fireplace and a saltwater pool, it re-listed in March asking $7.49 million with Frederick Wallenmaier of Official.
And at 139 Seascape Lane in Sagaponack, a trio of two-story, black beam-and-glass structures are wrapped in Alaskan cedar-board siding.
Designed by Bates Masi + Architects, the bold five-bedroom, eight-bathroom, 5,650-square-foot home is on the market for $15.5 million, with Shawn Egan of Serhant.
Still, the classic white summer home shouldn’t be so easily dismissed as flavorless, Reckson says. “At the Dakota, John and Yoko painted everything white,” she says of Lennon and Ono’s famed NYC home. “To do white on white, that was kind of revolutionary in the late 1960s when our parents’ houses were painted blue and green.”
She’s listing one such all-white envelope-pusher at 12 Glen Oak Court in Wainscott.
Funky, flowing, curvaceous and gleaming, this six-bedroom, eight-bathroom, 13,800-square-foot stucco job is as much sculpture as it is house.
It comes with 28-feet-high ceilings, a gunite heated pool, a unique 64-square-foot stainless steel hot tub and a $9.4 million price tag.
In East Hampton, the four-bedroom, five-bathroom, 5,500-square-foot house at 64 W. End Ave. also uses white to make a statement. Nestled on its own peninsula jutting into Georgica Pond, its exterior walls
are as white as rice — and so is its roof.
You could see this swan from space, but moving in will cost you $38 million (and the trouble of securing a certificate of occupancy, which it currently lacks). Paul Brennan of Douglas Elliman has the listing. “Architecture is like fashion; styles come in and out of popularity,” says Reckson. “But at the beach, a white house with a blue sky, surrounded by sand colors, always looks fresh and inviting.”
