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ITALIAN ARCHITECT ANTONIO CITTERIO CONJURES UP A MODERN MARVEL, PERCHED ABOVE THE SURF IN BRIDGEHAMPTON

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IF LOOKS COULD KILL (click photo for larger view)

"PHYLLIS AND I CALLED IT THE 'LITTLE JEWEL,'"
says commercial and residential real estate developer Jack Rosen of the tiny Bridgehampton beach house that first caught his eye in the mid-1980s. The somewhat worse-for-wear '60s-era wooden box, consisting of only a few rooms and a small kitchen, looked as though it had simply washed ashore from the ocean on the highest point of the dunes. "At the time, it was large enough for us and our two boys," says Rosen, and for many years the couple spent happy summers and long weekends in the humble abode, glad that their sons, Daniel and Jordan, grew up in a natural environment that was a far cry from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Their urban existence in Manhattan was the flip side of life in Bridgehampton; they built a seven-story townhouse on the Upper East Side, close to Central Park and the Guggenheim Museum, in collaboration with Gwathmey Siegel & Associates. "Charles Gwathmey thought of Phyllis as the ultimate client; she filled our house with vintage furniture from the '40s and a wonderful collection of contemporary art by Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat," says Rosen.

SLEEK AND CHIC (click photo for larger view)

Beach life, though, was to remain different, with the simple summer house offering a marvelous contrast to the formal city townhouse. But as time passed and the sons got married, the "little jewel" at the beach suddenly seemed too cramped. "We urgently needed more space, and so we decided to modify the house," Rosen recalls. Antonio Citterio, whom Rosen had gotten to know through his business, "has a very functional style that appealed to us," and the Milan-based architect/designer accepted the project gladly. "Some renowned American architects had already demonstrated their creativity on Long Island in the '70s, which was very inspiring to me," Citterio says. "So naturally I was particularly pleased to take on this project." The initial tweaks and modifications eventually grew into a large-scale undertaking, during which grandchildren Zachary, Alex, David and Charlie were born. Citterio accommodated the growing Rosen brood wisely, while still adhering to the essence of the cottage vernacular, making the new structure easy to care for and family friendly.