2007 HC&G IDEA HOUSE TOUR

Though it's a new construction, the 2007 HC&G Idea House—a traditional shingle-style home totaling 6,500 square feet spread over two floors and a lower level—already has deep roots in the Hamptons. Not only is it based on the classic Colonial Revival and shingle-style homes built between 1880 and 1930 in East Hampton village, it is located on a historically significant site.

Years ago, when New York restaurateur Warner LeRoy (founder of Tavern on the Green and the Russian Tea Room, among other eateries) summered at his 48-acre Amagansett estate, he planted hundreds of specimen trees among the mature beeches, oaks and maples covering the land. Four years after LeRoy's death in 2001, Richard Gherardi of Sand Dollar Development, along with Bill Landberg and other investors, purchased the property from LeRoy's widow with plans for a six-house development among a total of 14 lots. Located on a heavily wooded, two-acre parcel, the 2007 HC&G Idea House is the first house to be built on the property.

Designed by architect Steven W. Semes, AIA, the four-bedroom, six-bath (and three half-bath) residence is a roughly L-shaped structure with a spacious exterior entrance court, intimate rear patio and a broad veranda that wraps around the first-floor living room. The two-story-high entry hall sits at the center of a corridor on the long side of the "L" connecting the living room, dining room and kitchen/family room. Broken up by graceful archways, this corridor boasts views of the landscape at both ends. In addition to the sleeping quarters upstairs, a large library with its own bathroom and staircase sits over the garage—both constituting its own wing on the shorter side of the "L." The lower level features a media room, spa retreat, gentleman's study, wine cellar, two full baths and a sauna.

Generously sized rooms, all with multiple exposures, bring the outdoors inside, making this contemporary yet traditional home a pleasant summer retreat or a full-time, year-round residence.