Andrew Geller

Andrew Geller's South Fork houses were small and unconventional: an A-frame on the Sagaponack dunes in 1955, the "Double Diamond" on Dune Road in 1959, a "Grasshopper" in a potato field in 1966. Many are gone. The ones that remain are among the most recognizable postwar houses on the East End, and almost all have been altered.

Geller (1924–2011) was a designer at Raymond Loewy's industrial-design firm who took on beach houses on the side. The first, for Loewy's public-relations director Betty Reese, was published in The New York Times in 1957 and led to coverage in Life, Sports Illustrated and Esquire. His grandson Jake Gorst kept the archive, which moved in 2025 to the Paul Rudolph Institute for Modern Architecture. Alastair Gordon's Beach Houses: Andrew Geller is the standard reference.

The documented South Fork houses

Dates and locations below follow the USModernist archive, which draws on the Gorst archive.

Lost to storms and teardowns. The first Reese house (1955), an A-frame on Daniels Lane in Sagaponack, was destroyed in the March 1962 storm. So was a 1958 Sagaponack house shaped like a lighthouse. The 1966 "Grasshopper" in Sagaponack was demolished in the 1990s. A 1980s renovation in East Quogue was demolished and replaced in 2015.

The Pearlroth House, "Double Diamond," Dune Road (1959). Named for its diamond-shaped volumes. In 2015 it was moved 40 feet and restored as a pool house for a larger new house on the parcel. It survives, but as an accessory building. See Dune Road and Westhampton Beach.

Water Mill and Bridgehampton. A 1963 house on Pauls Lane in Water Mill was donated to the Peconic Land Trust in 2008, which placed a conservation easement on it before resale; it was later moved on the property, significantly altered and turned into a guest house. The second Reese house (1963), on Brick Kiln Road in Bridgehampton, was altered by another architect and now shares its lot with a second house.

Amagansett, Springs and East Hampton. A 1957 A-frame on Marine Boulevard in Amagansett, with a Geller addition; a 1967–68 pair on Gilberts Path, one restored and expanded; a 1968 house on Neck Path in Springs, restored in 2019 with an added deck; a 1969 house on Old Northwest Road, East Hampton, whose original pool has been filled in.

Leisurama, Montauk (1963–65). Furnished vacation houses marketed by All-State Properties, designed while Geller was at Loewy's firm. About 200 were built in Montauk of 1,000 planned. Geller later complained of "insensitive box additions" to the design. A Leisurama is a Geller-designed production house, not a commission, and most have been added to.

What to look for

• Single-gesture forms — A-frames, diamonds, a lighthouse, a butterfly roof — at small square footage.
• Houses built as summer retreats, many of them close to the ocean, which is why storms took several.
• Nicknames. Geller houses were known by their shapes, and the nickname often survives in the local record when the client's name does not.
• These are the core of South Fork beach-house modernism.

Alteration, moving and demolition

The Geller record shows every fate a small modernist house can meet on the South Fork: storm loss, demolition, relocation on the lot, conversion to a guest or pool house, enlargement by other architects, and, rarely, restoration. Two points matter to a buyer. First, a house that has been moved or converted to an accessory building may have a different legal status from the original dwelling; read the certificate of occupancy. Second, at least one Geller design — a 1960 Amagansett house — was redesigned as a traditional house after the building department rejected the original plans. A house can carry Geller's name in the record without looking like a Geller.

How to verify an attribution

Check the Gorst archive (now at the Paul Rudolph Institute), Alastair Gordon's Geller monograph and the original magazine publications. Then read the town or village building department file for the original permit, any relocation or demolition permits, and the current certificate of occupancy. For the Water Mill house and any similar case, search the county clerk's records for a conservation easement, which binds future owners.

Considering a Geller house?

Request a property brief from The Roebling Research Desk that documents what remains of the original design, confirms its legal status after any move or conversion, and checks for easements before you price a restoration.