The Hamptons is America’s most iconic summer destination. In her new book, Inside the Hamptons, Jennifer Ash Rudick explores some of the East End’s most remarkable homes, revealing how the region’s unique landscape, light and laid-back glamour have shaped a distinctly American style. By Jessica Jonzen
THE SWIMMING POOL AT JULIA AND MINOT AMORY’S SOUTHAMPTON RETREAT, INHERITED FROM MINOT’S LATE AUNT, THE LEGENDARY DECORATOR CHESSY RAYNER WHO PIONEERED ‘HIGH-LOW’ INTERIORS. IMAGE: TRIA GIOVAN
The Hamptons – that storied string of seaside villages on the eastern edge of Long Island in New York – has long occupied a singular place in the American imagination. Over the past century, it has also acquired a global reputation as shorthand for a particular vision of coastal luxury: cedar-shingled houses hidden behind privet hedges, windswept beaches, artists’ studios and long, languorous summers by the Atlantic.
Part of the Hamptons’ appeal lies in this balance between glamour and rusticity. It is a place where old fishing towns and farm stands coexist with designer boutiques and sprawling estates; where generations of America’s most high profile personalities — from the Kennedys and Jackson Pollock to Martha Stewart, Beyoncé and Gwyneth Paltrow — have come to escape the city in search of sea air and a slower rhythm of life. Novels, films, television and fashion have given the Hamptons a cultural cachet, turning them into an international symbol of American summer living.
Yet like so much of America itself, the East End is defined less by permanence than by movement — by arrivals, reinventions and departures, writes Jennifer Ash Rudick in her new book Inside the Hamptons – and it is precisely this sense of perpetual ‘becoming’ that gives the region its enduring appeal. Originally settled by 17th century farmers and fishermen drawn by fertile land and deep harbours, the Hamptons remained a relatively remote outpost until the late nineteenth century, when the arrival of the railroad transformed its weather-beaten villages into an escape for New York’s burgeoning industrial elite. Families who had amassed fortunes in steel, railroads and finance came east in search of space, fresh air and luxurious leisure time.
THE BEDROOM IN THE SHELTER ISLAND HOME OF GEORGE DE MAN. THE VICTORIAN GOTHIC REVIVAL BUILDING HAS BEEN IN HIS FAMILY SINCE THE 1950S, AND THE INTERIORS REMAIN LARGELY UNCHANGED. IMAGE: TRIA GIOVAN
Yet what emerged here was never quite the American equivalent of the English country house tradition, though echoes of it linger in the cedar-shingled estates and clipped privet hedges. Nor did the Hamptons fully abandon its working roots. Instead, the region developed an aesthetic all its own that comfortably combines grandeur with informality. This tension remains – to varying degrees – at the heart of its aesthetic.
The landscape itself plays no small part. The silvery, windswept and constantly shifting light of the East End possesses an almost mythic quality. Artists recognised its peculiar magnetism long before the Hamptons became associated with society glamour. Impressionist painters arrived in the late 19th century, drawn by the expansive skies and bleached grasses of the Shinnecock Hills. Later, the abstract expressionists settled farther east, finding in the isolation of Amagansett and Montauk the freedom to work on an altogether larger scale.
That creative legacy still permeates the region and the way its residents create their homes here. Unlike many polished resort enclaves, the Hamptons retains an atmosphere of experimentation and individuality. Interiors evolve over decades, accumulating stories instead of adhering to trends or fashion. A weathered wicker chair might sit beside an important contemporary painting; inherited antiques coexist happily with flea-market finds and mid-century classics.
Through Inside the Hamptons, writer, journalist and documentary maker Jennifer Ash Rudick explores a collection of remarkable homes that reflect the breadth of life on the Hamptons’ East End. Photographed by Sag Harbor-based Tria Giovan, the book moves beyond the clichés of glossy excess to reveal artists’ studios, weathered farmhouses, elegant seaside retreats and modernist hideaways. It is a portrait of the Hamptons as a place defined by creativity, memory and the rituals of summer living – and tantalising possibility.
THE VERANDA AT THE 1920’S WEATHERBOARDED BEACHFRONT HOME OF ALEXIA LEUSCHEN, WHICH SHE SENSITIVELY RENOVATED AND RESCUED FROM BEING TURNED INTO “SOMETHING RESEMBLING SKELETOR’S LAIR.” TRIA GIOVAN
THE KITCHEN AT ARTISTS JOHN ALEXANDER AND FIONA WATERSTREET’S AMAGANSETT BARN. STRIPPED BY JOHN OF ANY “INESSENTIAL” DECORATION, WHEN FIONA CAME INTO HIS LIFE IN 1994, SHE BEGAN TO INTRODUCE THE AESTHETIC OF HER NATIVE ENGLAND TO ITS INTERIORS. IMAGE TRIA GIOVAN
THE TERRACE AT THE 19TH CENTURY SHINNECOCK HILLS HOME OF AMANDA ROSS AND ZACK BACON IS THE PERFECT INTERSECTION OF THE CREATIVE AND COLOURFUL INTERIORS AND THE ABUNDANCE OF THE GARDEN. IMAGE: TRIA GIOVAN
ANTIQUE FURNITURE IN THE DINING AREA AT GEORGE DE MAN’S SHELTER ISLAND HOME IS GIVEN A FRESH LEASE OF LIFE IN SUNSHINE YELLOW. IMAGE: TRIA GIOVAN
THE VERANDA AT THE SOUTHAMPTON HOME OF MINOT AND JULIA AMORY COMBINES THE DECORATIVE STYLES OF BOTH THE CURRENT AND PAST CUSTODIANS. IMAGE: TRIA GIOVAN
Inside the Hamptons by Jennifer Ash Rudick with photography by Tria Giovan, Vendome Press, RRP £70. Members of The Staying In Crowd can receive a 10% discount – sign up here
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