Anyone reading this blog must enjoy peeking inside other people’s houses. If you’ve never gone on a house tour, you really should this year. Saturday, June 2, is the 9th Annual Southampton House Tour, which will allow you to take a gander inside a number of extraordinary Southampton homes. You’ll see inside houses that illustrate Southampton’s fascinating architectural heritage, from colonial times right up to the present, as well as the the 1648 Thomas Halsey Homestead and Saint Andrew’s Dune Church. After your tour, relax with a champagne reception hosted by Sant Ambroeus Restaurant at the Rogers Mansion. (See the details below.)
Houses on the tour include the following.
This handsome home sits on nearly an acre property where Captain E. Halsey, after his last voyage on the whaleship Franklin, built a home in 1848. Today’s house and grounds boast all the amenities of modern times, while giving a nod to the property’s rich history.
This gabled home, with its soft-grey exterior palette and pebbled circular drive, makes an understated impression on the approach. What you don’t see until you stroll to the back is its exquisite setting, with an unrivaled view across Lake Agawam.
Built in 1927, this village house has been updated while respecting its original details, including built-in cabinetry and a pantry.
The creative owners of this woodland retreat enlarged a relatively modest-sized house, raised the ceiling in the master bedroom, and added beams in the family room to achieve the airy look they were aiming for.
Above, this recently built pink house is filled with whimsical details (notice the swans on the gateposts). No surface has been left unadorned, from the two-story foyer with its wallpaper featuring huge palm leaves to the custom-tile fireplace surround, which was hand-copied to match the swag wallpaper border.
One of Southampton’s foremost estates, Linden, designed by the renowned New York architect Grosvenor Atterbury, has lost none of its early 20th-century grandeur. Atterbury, who designed some of the most beautiful houses, clubs, and buildings in America, was a summer resident of Southampton where his most familiar legacy is the beautiful building he designed for the original Parrish Art Museum.
The Thomas Halsey Homestead is New York State’s oldest English-style house. Thomas Halsey, one of Southampton’s original settlers, established his farm in 1648. Today Halsey House is managed as a historic house museum by the Southampton Historical Museum. It provides an authentic setting to exhibit furnishings and tools that would have been used by a prosperous farming family during America’s colonial period.
St. Andrew’s Dune Church (main pic) is located at the foot of Lake Agawam and is one of Southampton’s most picturesque landmarks. Originally built as a life-saving station, it was acquired by Dr. T. Gaillard Thomas and donated as a church in 1879. A local carpenter was hired to create its beautiful rustic interior, which is filled with treasures, not the least of which are its 11 Tiffany widows. In 1938, the church was nearly destroyed by that year’s terrible hurricane. It was restored and has twice been moved back from the sea.
Here are the deets: Saturday, June 2; 1-4PM is the house tour, 4:30 PM-6:00 PM is the champagne reception. Costs are $95 in advance, $110 day of tour. Call with a credit card (631) 283-2494 or use PayPal at southamptonhistory.org. Tickets may be picked up or purchased, on the day of the tour, as early as 10:30AM at the Thomas Halsey House, 249 South Main Street, Southampton.
