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Deborah Berke Restores a Historic East End Boardinghouse, Revitalized as a Stunning Single-Family Retreat

After a painstaking renovation, the four-story, 19th-century structure is reborn as a picture-perfect getaway with ocean views, gardens by Edwina von Gal, and a female-focused art collection

By Ingrid Abramovitch Photography by Kelly Marshall | Styled by Rebecca Omweg
Bright living room with white brick fireplace, green artwork, modern furniture, large windows, and wooden accents.
Led by founder Deborah Berke, the architecture and design firm TenBerke refurbished a 19th-century East Hampton, New York, home that had once been The Apaquogue boardinghouse for a new owner. In the living room, principal Kiki Dennis, who oversaw the interiors, installed a Rochelle Feinstein painting over the minimalist fireplace. It is flanked by a Jason Middlebrook wood piece above a vintage child’s chair and a Haas Brothers woolly stool next to a BDDW sling chair.

It stands like a charming anachronism, a four-story house overlooking the ocean in East Hampton, New York, where current zoning restricts most homes to half that height. The simple gable roof structure with a shingled façade dates from 1884, when it was built as a boardinghouse for summer visitors who came to relax at the beach and enjoy what was then a small village at the far end of Long Island.

The current owner, who had a summer house nearby, had strolled past the property for years. A serial renovator of historic residences, she was looking for a getaway big enough to accommodate her three adult children and their families. “I love a project,” she says.

Historic wooden farmhouse with multiple windows, surrounded by greenery, under a blue sky with some clouds.
Berke moved the shingled structure 60 feet away from the road and added an extension off the back; landscape designer Edwina von Gal designed the gardens.

When a local broker told her The Apaquogue was on the market, she went to see it and was smitten. “It was a wreck, and my friends said, ‘You are out of your frigging mind.’ But I did not want to see someone else tearing it apart. I wanted to bring it back to its glory.”

The accommodation was luxurious for its era, with rooms cooled by ocean breezes, a grand dining room serving three meals a day, and a screened porch that one imagines hosted guests for afternoon tea. “Each bedroom had a private bathroom, so it was pretty classy, and there was room for your maid to sleep upstairs,” says architect Deborah Berke, whose firm, TenBerke, just completed a three-year renovation of the property.

Elegant dining room with chandelier, wooden table, vintage chairs, fireplace, and art on walls. Cozy and stylish interior design.
A Lindsey Adelman light fixture from Roll & Hill makes a statement over the RH dining table and Josef Frank chairs from Svenskt Tenn. Vintage Orrefors textured-glass sconces from Remains Lighting are mounted above the fireplace, while a Donald Sultan work hangs in the corner by a vintage settee and a Hollywood Regency iron table from Harbinger.

In recent decades, as Hamptons farmland gave way to hedge-concealed mansions, the building’s survival was something of a real estate marvel. Purchased by a family in 1919, it remained in their hands for more than a century. When rumors circulated that descendants were ready to sell, developers swooped in. But so did three women who would shape its transformation.

While it was on the market, Berke—who has a home in East Hampton—asked the broker if she could take a look. The architect, dean of the Yale School of Architecture, has long been drawn to historic preservation. “I couldn’t believe this incredible building was going to change hands after a hundred years,” she says.

Cozy screened porch with a dining table, potted flowers, and a sofa, bathed in warm sunlight.
On the screened porch, the dining table and chairs are by Tribù, as are the round side tables in front of the vintage sofa and armchair from Claude Home.

The broker agreed to introduce her to an interested buyer, who happened to be the serial renovator, and the two realized they would be ideal collaborators. After the sale was finalized, they brought in another local, landscape designer Edwina von Gal, to preserve and enhance the gardens. “I am retired and don’t take on a lot of new work,” says von Gal, who now dedicates most of her time to the Perfect Earth Project, her nonprofit devoted to sustainable land practices. “But I was touched by their respect for the building.”

Their first move was dramatic: The house was shifted 60 feet back from the street and placed on a new foundation. During excavation, Berke discovered the building had originally been set on locust-post supports, as was customary in the Hamptons at the time. With the original structure shored up, Berke added an extension off the back that contains an expansive kitchen, a living room, a playroom, and additional bedrooms.

colorful sculptural artwork in a bright living room with large windows, blue couch, wooden coffee table, and stacked books
A Francesca DiMattio glazed porcelain figure adds whimsy to a parlor sitting area furnished with a pale George Smith sofa and a custom upholstered ottoman table.
Elegant foyer with a mosaic table, ornate chandelier, floral arrangement, and decorative mirror on a wooden floor.
In the entry, a Lindsey Adelman chandelier from Roll & Hill is suspended above a Piet Hein Eek table, while a tramp art mirror is paired with a vintage console.

Rather than hide the façade behind a typical Hamptons privacy hedge, the homeowner chose a low fence so the residence would remain visible to passersby. She also asked that the irises framing the old porch be saved. Von Gal dug them up and replanted them, interspersing native pollinator plants such as gaura, or bee blossom. “It’s soft and fuzzy and gives a casual look to the architecture,” she says.

Inside, original elements were preserved whenever possible. The stairs, mantels, and claw-foot tubs were restored, while leaded-glass cabinet fronts were repurposed as French doors. Where materials needed replacing, they were carefully sourced—from reclaimed brick for the chimney to salvaged wood flooring. Architectural details were kept spare. Walls were painted shades of white. The goal wasn’t to encase the house in amber but “to keep what tells the story of the home,” Berke says, while adapting it for modern life.

Floral wallpapered bathroom with vintage mirror, marble sink, and bookshelf reflection.
Wallpaper by Timorous Beasties wraps a powder room that features its original vanity, a vintage mirror, and Urban Electric sconces; the pendant is by Stahl + Band.
Bright bedroom with vaulted ceiling, teal bedspread, floral cabinet, wall lamps, and green hanging light fixture.
In the lofty fourth-floor primary suite, the custom Charles H. Beckley bed is upholstered in a Rose Uniacke velvet with Urban Electric swing-arm sconces on either side and a vintage lantern from Remains Lighting hanging above. An Anat Shiftan bronze sculpture rests atop the midcentury Swedish cabinet; the Saul Steinberg artwork Still Life (1984) hangs nearby, between windows overlooking the garden; and the rug is by Elizabeth Eakins.

Kiki Dennis, a principal at TenBerke, helped shape the interiors, using art and furniture collected by the owner. Those pieces add color and personality to Berke’s minimalist framework. In the entry, a Piet Hein Eek table made from recycled wood scraps sits beneath an intricately sculptural Lindsey Adelman light fixture. A Rochelle Feinstein abstract painting in vibrant greens hangs above the mantel in the living room, surrounded by equally verdant views of the garden.

Aerial view of a serene backyard with a swimming pool, patio seating under an umbrella, and lush greenery.
The pool deck is outfitted with Tribù furniture.

For the owner, the house is ultimately about gathering with her extended family and friends. The property now includes 11 bedrooms, a swimming pool, and pickleball courts bordered by low-maintenance meadow plantings. After long summer days of cooking and entertaining, she retreats to her favorite space—her lofty fourth-floor bedroom, where she can gaze at Saul Steinberg artworks and views of either the ocean or the garden. “I call it the Witch’s Lair,” she says with a laugh. “It’s my sanctuary.

A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2026 Summer Issue under the headline “Saving Grace.” Subscribe to the magazine.