location: Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York l interior design: Bradfield & Tobin l images: Sargent Photography

Sag Harbor is an incorporated village in Suffolk County, New York – in the sought after Hamptons of East Hampton and Southampton – the population is less than 2 500. The entire business district of this old whaling port and writer’s colony is listed as Sag Harbor Village District on the National Register of Historic Places in the US.

Sag Harbor is about three fifths in Southampton and two fifths in East Hampton. It includes almost all of the Bay Street marina complex, including Sag Harbor Yacht Club and the Breakwater Yacht Club. For the New York and US East Coast elite, it’s a much venerated second home address.

‘For us, and for our clients, design is a journey – an experience that begins with a visual idea,’ so says interior designer Geoffrey Bradfield who created this recent Sag Harbor project as one of three for a bachelor client with additional homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach.

He adds: ‘The Hamptons serve as the East Coast North American Riviera. It’s here – in this rarified enclave – that summers are spent in casual opulence. These sprawling shingled mansions are home to the likes of Paul McCartney, Donna Karan and Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg. The request for a style of architecture, with few exceptions, seldom varies. The call is for deep porches, sloped roof lines, stone chimney stacks and shuttered windows, in harmony and at one with the rural topography and Atlantic coastline.

‘Here, the visual idea and interior concept illustrates a simple signature of effortless luxury. This 1 115 square metre house sits on seven acres facing the waters of the sound. Our client is a generous host who entertains frequently, welcoming guests, grandchildren and a pack of German Shepherds to share in the magic of the escapist season.

‘For me, the interiors and furnishings are rather déjà vu. It was fun to reference my early design years in South Africa, using the casual sophistication of McGuire furnishings. My late business partners of Guilds Ltd. and Henri XII and I represented John and Elinor McGuire in our showrooms, frequent guests of ours in Johannesburg and pioneers in the use of rattan and rawhide. It is amazing how appropriate and relevant their designs remain today,’ says Bradfield.

He is enthusiastic about the overall concept: ‘Large-scale photographs by Nick Brandt of wildlife add to the ambiance of unbridled open-plan freedom. It was the client’s wish to scrap the original formal living room and recreate it as a games room – a very masculine retreat filled with grown-up toys. The garages continue the theme of play-things for adults with a fleet of exotic cars.’

For the full article see Habitat #264 March / April 2018

 

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