Architects Brian Sawyer and John Berson say that there are two types of houses their firm Sawyer | Berson is typically hired to build in the Hamptons: the classic shingled beach cottage and uber-modern, glass-encased contemporaries. Their clients Kaki and Scott Swid, however, aspired to build something different for their family on a two-acre parcel in Noyack. “We knew we wanted something very unique to the Hamptons,” says Kaki. “We didn’t know exactly what we wanted, but we had a very good idea.”
At first Sawyer and Berson thought they might riff on the shiplap-clad captain’s houses that populate nearby Sag Harbor, but the Swids wanted something more like their home in California: a stucco house. (The couple now resides in Florida, coming to the East End for the summer.) “We have always thought that, when done right, stucco houses are spectacular, beautiful homes,” says Kaki. “We knew it would be great in the Hamptons where we are on the water.” Sawyer and Berson were game for the challenge. “They wanted a little bit of a Beverly Hills swagger to it, and it was easy to identify a style that we dubbed ‘Noyack Regency’ later on,” says Sawyer. “We’ve always been fascinated with this sort of Deco take on Regency style,” says Berson. The team looked to 1930s architecture for inspiration, specifically the Coral Casino Beach and Cabana Club in Santa Barbara and the Deco-style Alex Camp House by John Staub in Dallas.
The oak floors of the entrance hall are painted to resemble a tiled floor.
When illuminated at night and viewed from a distance, the windows in the stairwell are reminiscent of a lighthouse.
The kitchen’s unique cabinet detailing picks up the octagonal theme that runs throughout the house.
The Swids opted to forgo a formal dining room in favor of this charismatic green breakfast space. “You can see everything from this room,” says Sawyer, “and everybody can get in and out of it in a really nice way. It serves as circulation and dining space.”
At first the homeowners insisted they didn’t need a study because they liked to be together, but Sawyer and Berson insisted a retreat would be nice—and the parents have found that it is pleasant to have a quiet room away from the hubbub of the house.
The home’s architecture and irregular massing were inspired in part by the Coral Casino Beach and Cabana Club in Santa Barbara, while the oversized casement windows and French doors reference the work of John Staub.
The octagonal motif is repeated again in this covered patio.
The circular swimming pool is the nexus of this family’s summer lifestyle. In the distance, Sawyer | Berson added a wetlands buffer of native plantings along the waterfront.
The guest house floor is a checkerboard of contrasting terrazzo tiles.
A hallmark of Sawyer | Berson’s homes—no matter what the style—is that they are primarily only a single room deep, rather than back-to-back like rooms are in most homes. “We like a lot of light and air in our houses,” Sawyer explains. For the Swids’ home, the plan came together quickly with the architects designing a T-shaped house with height and half ceilings on the stem, as well as two stories on the cross of the “T.” Outside, a circular pool (inspired by a Slim Aarons photo) nestles into one corner of the house. Sawyer and Berson also imagined creating a sweeping staircase that rises into an octagonal tower reminiscent of a lighthouse as a centerpiece of the home.
The octagonal shape of the rotunda became a leitmotif on both the exterior and interior. Sawyer | Berson created another octagonal tower that houses a double-height primary bath and breakfast room below. Octagons also appear on the fronts of the kitchen cabinets, on the oeil-de-boeuf windows, and even the knobs. “It was a nice touch, sort of a whisper of that style, rather than hammering it home,” says Sawyer.
The Swids brought on architect and interior designer Daniel Romualdez to help them furnish their new home, which is threaded with greens and pinks and summery prints. In the primary bathroom, Kaki longed for the instantly recognizable Martinique wallpaper because she and Scott had had their first date at the Beverly Hills Hotel’s Polo Lounge. The wallpaper and a slew of tropical-themed textiles, including Wayne Pate for Studio Four NYC fabric on the breakfast room chairs and Peter Dunham’s “Fig Leaf ” for outdoor pillows, are right at home in a house Sawyer described as being “all about summertime living.”
Indeed, with its expansive loggia, terraces, and oversized casement windows and French doors, this house beckons Kaki, Scott and their four children outdoors. With a separate guest house, tennis court, boathouse and dock, their new home is the quintessence of summer living.