Bull's Head–Main Street Historic District

On December 21, 2023, the Southampton Town Board unanimously designated the Bridgehampton Bull's Head – Main Street Historic Overlay District. It was the Town's first historic district outside its incorporated villages. Press accounts put it at 93 tax lots plus the Founders Monument, 48 of them landmark or contributing resources.

Every property in it, contributing or not, now needs a certificate of appropriateness from the Town's Landmarks and Historic Districts Board before any exterior change that can be seen from a public way. The Town's owner Q&A states that rule; ordinary maintenance is exempt.

Bridgehampton has no village government. Before this designation, it was a hamlet heritage area, which recognizes historic value but, as the press account put it, had nothing on the books to prevent the demolition of significant buildings. The overlay changed that for the hamlet center only.

What is designated, by whom and when

The district is a zoning overlay: a layer of extra rules placed on top of the existing zoning, which stays in force. The Town Code defines a historic district (§ 330-321) as a distinct section of the Town containing properties that meet one or more landmark criteria. Within it, a resource is contributing if it:

• has special historic or aesthetic character,
• is identified with a historic person or event,
• embodies a style, type or period,
• is the work of an influential designer or builder, or
• is a familiar visual feature of the neighborhood.

Not every property in the district is contributing.

The process began with a 2017 request from the Town Supervisor to the Landmarks and Historic Districts Board. The Bridgehampton civic association co-applied. The Town Historian prepared the district research, drawing on the 2009 Bridgehampton Hamlet Heritage Area Report, the Town's 2014 historic resources survey and the Bridgehampton Museum archives. The Southampton Press reports that the Town also amended its code to drop a prior requirement that 20% of owners sign a petition before a district could be created.

The Phase I review and design guidelines, written by the Town Historian, include a history of the hamlet, the review guidelines, district mapping and a property-by-property inventory giving each property's proposed status.

The boundary in words

The Town describes the district as the hamlet center along Main Street (Montauk Highway):

• West: the intersections of Montauk Highway with Snake Hollow Road and Hildreth Lane.
• East: the intersections with Ocean Road and the Bridgehampton–Sag Harbor Turnpike at Monument Square. This eastern end was historically called Bull's Head.

Inside are business properties, churches, residences, a cemetery, museums, a park, a monument and parking areas. The press reports that 99 tax lots were originally proposed and five residences were excluded at their owners' request.

What was left out. The Landmarks Board chair described this as phase one. Historic houses on the eastern side of Montauk Highway, the early-settlement area near Bridge Lane, the Ocean Avenue area and parts of Butter Lane were not included. A Bridgehampton address, even an old house on Main Street, does not establish inclusion. The adopted map and tax-lot list do.

Documented resources

Press coverage of the adoption names these as meeting the contributing criteria:

• the Founders Monument (1910), on the small green at Ocean Road and Montauk Highway;
• the Triangular Commons, a green and former militia training ground dating to the 1670s;
• the Nathaniel Rogers House, Town-owned and restored in 2021 with the Bridgehampton Museum;
• the former D. L. Chester Dry Goods Store, a two-story brick building on a modified triangular plan at 1 Ocean Road;
• the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church;
• St. Ann's Episcopal Church, its rectory and parish hall;
• the Henry H. Chatfield House (1897), 2397 Montauk Highway, now commercial;
• the two-story brick-and-stucco building on a triangular plan at 2385 Montauk Highway.

The Town's Q&A notes that the Nathaniel Rogers House and the Presbyterian Church are individually listed on the State and National Registers. The district as a whole is a local designation, not a National Register district.

What designation changes for an owner

Review. Before any exterior alteration, restoration, reconstruction, demolition, new construction or moving, the owner needs a certificate of appropriateness under Town Code § 330-323. The criteria:

• the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation, the federal benchmark for repairing and adapting historic buildings;
• contributing properties are retained with historic features altered as little as possible;
• alterations and new construction must be compatible with the district.

Limits on review. Interior changes are not reviewed if they do not affect the exterior. Features not visible from a public right-of-way or alley are not reviewed. Ordinary maintenance and repair that does not change design, material, color or appearance is exempt.

Process. A pre-application conference with the Board is available at no cost. Board decisions can be appealed to the Zoning Board of Appeals and then to State Supreme Court under Article 78, the state procedure for challenging a government agency's decision.

Benefits for contributing properties. The Town lists:

• a property-tax exemption under Real Property Tax Law § 444-a for value added by approved rehabilitation (100% for five years, then stepping down);
• possible sale of a preservation easement to the Community Preservation Fund;
• eligibility for the Landmark Maintenance Award;
• zoning relief under § 330-9, which can allow a legal guest ("carriage") house without a development right, subject to lot and building size limits;
• special-permit relief under § 330-167(J).

National Register. Local designation alone does not open the state homeowner rehabilitation credit, which needs Register listing or a certified local district. The two individually listed buildings above are the exception.

Diligence for a buyer or seller

• Confirm the tax lot against the adopted map, and get the property's status from the Phase I inventory.
• On a commercial or mixed-use lot, historic review sits on top of site-plan review and the hamlet's commercial zoning.
• For a contributing house, test whether the § 330-9 carriage-house relief or the § 444-a exemption applies. Either can change the economics of a renovation.
• Plan for review of anything visible from Main Street: signs, storefronts, windows, roofing and color.
• A seller should obtain the property's inventory entry and any certificates issued since December 2023, and should keep district history separate from claims about the individual building.

The Bridgehampton guide covers the hamlet beyond its center. The nearest comparable local districts are in Sagaponack and Southampton Village, each under its own village code.

Considering a property in the Bridgehampton district?

Request a property brief from The Roebling Research Desk: inventory status, what the review covers for that frontage, the tax and zoning benefits available to it, the approval history, and the hamlet-center properties that actually compete.