Ocean Avenue Historic District

The Ocean Avenue Historic District protects the spine of East Hampton's early summer colony: the road from the south end of Main Street to Main Beach, lined with Shingle Style and Colonial Revival houses built or remodeled between 1870 and 1907. The Village's guidelines classify 15 properties as historic and 15 as non-historic, and review new construction against the historic houses' setbacks of 90 to 190 feet.

The road was Calf Pasture Lane, leading through pasture to the beach by Hook Pond. By 1900 it was called Ocean Avenue and was the main road of the summer colony. The district follows it to the bathhouse site at Main Beach and includes the Village-owned Sea Spray property.

This is a local district under Village Code Chapter 176, with its own Design Review Board guidelines. A National Register boundary increase listed in 1988 also runs along Ocean and Lee Avenues. The two are separate records.

What is designated, by whom and when

The Village Board of Trustees designates historic districts under Chapter 176 after a public hearing. Properties are shown on filed Historic District Maps and listed by Suffolk County tax map number. The Village counts four local districts; Ocean Avenue is the one most directly tied to the oceanfront estate section.

The Design Review Board adopted the district's guidelines in November 2007. They refer to a separate Ocean Avenue Historic District Designation Report for the individual property entries.

On the federal side, the East Hampton Village Historic District (Boundary Increase) was listed on the National Register on July 21, 1988. Its recorded location runs southwest along Ocean and Lee Avenues and Pond Lane to Hedges Lane.

The boundary in words

The guidelines describe a district that adjoins the Main Street Historic District and follows Ocean Avenue to Main Beach. The filed map controls the exact line. Three properties face side streets: 5 Pudding Hill Lane, 3 Terbell Lane and 4 Lockwood Lane. Two of the historic houses carry Lily Pond Lane addresses, and one is on Lee Avenue.

The district also includes only the access strips of three flag lots: 28, 29 and 52 Ocean Avenue. A flag lot is a rear parcel reached by a narrow strip of land to the road. On those three, the house and the main part of the lot are outside the district. Only a fence, gate or other structure within the strip is reviewed.

Historic and non-historic properties

The guidelines classify properties as follows, citing the designation report.

Historic (15): Herrick House, 4 Ocean Avenue; Herrick Carriage House, 8 Ocean Avenue; Munroe House, 24 Ocean Avenue; Bowne House, 32 Ocean Avenue; Gallatin House, 4 Pudding Hill Lane; Davies House, 50 Ocean Avenue; Eidlitz House, 58 Ocean Avenue; Quackenbush House, 10 Lee Avenue; E. C. Potter House, 6 Lily Pond Lane; F. G. Potter House, 1 Lily Pond Lane; Thompson House, 25 Ocean Avenue; Bates House, 41 Ocean Avenue; Terbell House, 47 Ocean Avenue; Van Brunt House, 61 Ocean Avenue; Mershon Draper House, 67 Ocean Avenue.

Non-historic (15): 5 Hook Pond Lane; 4 Lockwood Lane; 9, 18, 33, 37, 55, 66, 73, 81, 86, 92 and 98 Ocean Avenue; 5 Pudding Hill Lane; 3 Terbell Lane.

The Village documents say there is one vacant parcel. Classification can change, so confirm it with the Village before relying on it in a contract.

The architecture the district protects

The guidelines name the architects:

• Isaac Henry Green Jr. designed the 1888 Everett Herrick House, its carriage house and windpump tower, and the 1889 George E. Munroe House. The guidelines credit these two houses with introducing the Shingle Style to East Hampton.
• Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz designed his own house (1897) and the Schuyler Quackenbush House (1899), described as one of the grandest Shingle Style houses in the Village.
• Joseph Greenleaf Thorp, an East Hampton architect, designed the F. H. Davies, E. Clifford Potter and Frederick G. Potter houses (1899–1905).
• James H. L'Hommedieu designed the Robert S. Bowne and James Gallatin houses (1889).
• McKim, Mead & White remodeled the 1874 Satterthwaite house for Charles G. Thompson in 1895 in the Colonial Revival style. The guidelines say this prompted the 1901 Colonial Revival remodelings of the Terbell House (by Walter E. Brady, as Maidstone Hall) and the Mershon Draper House.
• The Bates House is an eighteenth-century Main Street house moved to Ocean Avenue in 1894.

What designation changes for an owner

The certificate requirement in Chapter 176 applies: no exterior alteration, demolition, new construction or moving without Design Review Board approval, and no building permit until the certificate issues. Normal maintenance is exempt.

The Ocean Avenue guidelines exempt more than the older district manuals do. For a historic house, the following need no review:

• a new wood shingle roof, or a dark gray or dark brown composition roof of small rectangular shingles;
• in-kind replacement of wall shingles or painted clapboards;
• any repainting of a painted surface;
• storms, screens, shutters, gutters and leaders;
• two-rail post-and-rail fences and picket fences under four feet;
• driveways, walkways, exterior lighting and landscape plantings;
• any work in the back yard (pool, shed, garage, fence), except an addition to the house.

For a non-historic house, any work that does not need a building permit is also exempt.

What is reviewed, and how:

• Front façades and setting. The area between the front façade and Ocean Avenue should stay free of improvements. Solid board, chain link and vinyl fences, fences over four feet, and masonry walls on a property line are listed as detracting. Front berms and retaining walls are not appropriate.
• Shingles. Painting or staining natural shingles is reviewed. A clear preservative or light gray stain is exempt.
• Additions. They should be subordinate and set back. Rear additions are encouraged, and more glazing is accepted on rear walls.
• New houses. The front setback falls within the historic range of 90 to 190 feet. The house faces Ocean Avenue, and height, façade width, roof form and materials stay within the range of the historic houses.
• Demolition. No historic building or significant component should be demolished. A casualty or instability claim requires an architect's or engineer's report, and the Board may require plans for the replacement first.
• The Herrick Carriage House has its own rules for expansion or a new residence on that lot.

National Register listing adds no review of private, privately funded work. It may open the state homeowner tax credit for an owner-occupied contributing house in a qualifying census tract, with approval before work starts.

Diligence for a buyer or seller

• Confirm the tax map number is on the Village's filed district list. For a flag lot, confirm whether only the access strip is designated.
• Read the property's entry in the designation report.
• On a non-historic lot, plan any new house against the setback, height and façade-width rules before pricing land value.
• Map the back yard as the guidelines define it (the side away from Ocean Avenue). Much of the program is exempt there, but the three side-street houses are treated differently.
• Ocean-side properties also carry flood, dune and coastal permits. Those are separate from historic review; see the oceanfront-property guide.

The Main Street Historic District adjoins this one at the south end of Main Street. The East Hampton Village guide covers the estate section around it, including Georgica Pond and Further Lane.

Considering an Ocean Avenue property?

Request a property brief from The Roebling Research Desk: classification in the designation report, what the guidelines allow on that specific lot, the certificate and permit history, and the summer-colony properties that actually compete.