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Transforming a Historic Boarding House into a Family Home

Long Island, NY
2025
Type: Interiors
Theme: Transforming Old Buildings / Tranquility in the Country

Project EUI
81%

reduction in energy use compared to the AIA 2030 baseline

Built in 1884, this charming four-story building is considered the best-preserved boarding house or hotel in East Hampton, featuring regularly spaced windows and a generous wraparound porch. Despite being unprotected by landmark status, our sensitive restoration and re-interpretation will ensure that the historically unique structure lives well on into the 21st century.

Though layers of intervention had accumulated over time, when our client acquired the boarding house, its essential qualities were very much still legible. Our approach to the renovation was at once restrained and bold—preserving original elements and the hospitable character of the boarding house, while readying it for life and entertaining today. To start, we moved the building 60 feet back from the street to give it a bit more breathing room. This neighborly gesture made room for a more gracious arrival experience while setting the home closer to the restored meadow cultivated behind it.

On the whole, the project exercises material restraint, striving to reuse as much as can be salvaged from the original structure or reclaimed from other sources. Masonry flues were thoroughly studied before they were dismantled for the relocation process and are completely reconstructed inside the home after its re-location. We carefully studied vernacular details to be preserved: fireplace surrounds, salvaged chimney masonry, door and window details and profiles, original window glazing units, trim and casing profiles, and other interior period features.

Throughout the home, historic details are thoughtfully paired with vintage and contemporary furniture, objects and art. Together, they create a layered interior that reflects both the history of the house and the lives of those who call it home. Today, the home has remained true to the original use of the building with a variety of gathering spaces — for large groups and private moments for one- or two-people alike — and welcoming friends and family into its many guestrooms, each with their own details and theme.

From a large-scale reconceptualization of the site plan to minute attention to historic detailing, the transformed 1884 House has been interpreted for another century of stewardship.

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Key People

Deborah Berke
Lead Designer

Kiki Dennis
Lead Designer

Tori McGovern
Project Manager

Collaborators

TenBerke
Architect and Interior Design

Edwina vonGAL & Company
Landscape Architect

Dilandro Andrews Engineering
Civil Engineer, Structural Engineer, MEP/FP Engineer

Delamere Building Corp
General Contractor

MaGrann Associates
Sustainability

Saskas Surveying Company
Surveyor

Robert Hefner
Historic Preservation Consultant

Kelly Marshall
Photographer

Rebecca Omweg
Stylist

Related Work

North Penn House Interiors
Sackett Hill House Interiors
Theme: Tranquility in the Country