Tour an Art-Filled East Hampton Home by Thomas A. Kligerman and Francis D’Haene
A Shingle Style house conceived by Ike Kligerman Barkley and D’Apostrophe Design pairs the classic lines of East End architecture on the exterior with an envelope-pushing interior
An East Hampton home created by architect Thomas A. Kligerman and designer Francis D’Haene.
Photo: Richard Powers
Rarely does a new house fit perfectly into a mature property right away. Materials require time to weather. Landscapes need an opportunity to repair. Gardens gradually fill in. Yet when the creative team includes architect Thomas A. Kligerman and landscape designer Edmund Hollander—who have worked together on dozens of projects and are seasoned pros at melding the new with the already there—the odds of instant harmony rise considerably. Add to the mix a deft interior designer like Francis D’Haene, and the final composition can be symphonic.
The expansive rear lawn is dotted with old trees and bordered by gardens overseen by Hollander Design Landscape Architects.
Photo: Richard Powers
A few years ago, the trio was commissioned to create a spacious retreat in East Hampton for a New York City couple with three children and an ample collection of contemporary art. The architect, a principal of the firm Ike Kligerman Barkley, took note of the neighboring 19th-century shingled houses and envisioned an estate with a timeless spirit. “We didn’t want it to be the sore thumb house,” Kligerman recalls. “We wanted it rooted in tradition and to be a good setting for the art, but it couldn’t be a shrinking violet either.”
The six-bedroom home, in fact, has two personalities. The muscular exterior is pure Eastern Seaboard Shingle Style, with an imposing yet gracious symmetrical presence, including a double-gabled roof. Generously scaled windows are framed by black shutters, contrasting the cedar shingles that quickly aged to a patrician gray. Less traditional are the stainless-steel caps atop the five chimneys, which, along with a genial snaillike marble sculpture by Alma Allen installed at the entrance, hint at a more modern story inside.
Vintage Pierre Jeanneret chairs surround a Rick Owens table in the dining room, where D’Haene installed an Achille Salvagni chandelier and a starry Kiki Smith wall piece.
Photo: Richard Powers
Masterminded by the Belgian-born D’Haene—whose firm, D’Apostrophe Design, conceives exalted spaces for clients in the worlds of art and fashion—the exquisitely crafted interior blends stellar midcentury designs and personality-driven contemporary pieces. Throughout, the rooms are tailored to showcase the owners’ eclectic art by luminaries such as Roni Horn, Mel Bochner, Jenny Holzer, and Sterling Ruby, who painted the small, intensely hued work that packs a petite wallop above a Vincent Dubourg “exploding” bronze credenza in the soaring entry hall.
“The owners like quality and luxury without going over the top”
Francis D’Haene
The high-ceilinged living room comes invitingly down to earth, thanks to curved sofas by Christophe Delcourt, a trio of nestling India Mahdavi tables, and velvet-covered stools by the Campana Brothers. In the dining room, a massive black-plywood table by Rick Owens is surrounded by vintage Pierre Jeanneret caned teak chairs, while a tentacled Achille Salvagnichandelier engages in lively visual interplay with a Kiki Smith wall sculpture resembling a constellation. “I like simple forms and natural materials,” D’Haene explains. “It was all about what would make these rooms feel warm.”
A Mel Bochner text painting adds a wry note behind the library’s Marco Dessi sofa, which is covered in a Holly Hunt fabric and flanked by Jean-Michel Frank–style lamps on Moss & Lam side tables; the bronze cluster tables are by Stéphane Parmentier from Maison Gerard, and the rug is by Joseph Carini Carpets.
Photo: Richard Powers
The art on display, assembled with the help of adviser Erica Samuels, reflects the same amiable spirit. There are some brash pieces, but for the most part the works are welcoming to the eye. Polly Apfelbaum’s exuberant flower prints brighten a daughter’s bedroom. Serene works by Nan Goldin, Jacob Kassay, and John Houck offer quieter pleasures in the primary bedroom suite. “They didn’t want the feeling to be heavy or so serious,” Samuels says of her clients.
“This is not 100 percent beach house,” D’Haene says. “The owners like quality and luxury without going over the top. For them the most important thing is family. They wanted a warm home where they could spend a lot of time together.”
“There’s a sense of wander to the property”
Thomas A. Kligerman
Vladimir Kagan lounge chairs from Ralph Pucci sit inside the pool pavilion, which contains a teak bar conceived by D’Apostrophe Design; teak chaise longues by Roda line one side of the pool.
Photo: Richard Powers
That includes plenty of time outdoors, where Hollander approached the grounds as an opportunity to create “the rest of the composition.” Amid old conifers and copper and fern-leaf beeches as well as majestic maples and linden trees that had grown over generations, he integrated new elements, such as orchards and vegetable and cutting gardens. An allée of pleached linden trees lines a set of stairs that lean up and over a series of small hills running through the middle of the property. “The landscape had to work for a multigenerational family,” Hollander says. “Something that would invite them to use different areas, in shade and in the sun.”
The diversity of outdoor spaces invites exploring. As Kligerman poetically puts it, “There’s a sense of wander to the property.”
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2021 Summer Issue under the headline “Best of Both Worlds.” Subscribe to the magazine.
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Tour an Art-Filled East Hampton Home by Thomas A. Kligerman and Francis D’Haene
In the living room, a Rashid Johnson painting is mounted above the limestone fireplace and set against cerused-oak paneling. Christophe Delcourt sofas curl around a trio of India Mahdavi cocktail tables joined by Campana Brothers stools, Jacques Jarrige lamps poised on Christophe Côme side tables, a lounge chair by Joseph-André Motte, and a sculptural Wendell Castle table. The ceiling light is by Alexandre Logé, and the rug is by Fort Street Studio.
Photograph by Richard Powers
A painting by Eamon Ore-Giron and a Vibeke Fonnesberg Schmidt pendant from Nilufar animate the breakfast area, which is furnished with a Jean-Pierre Tortil table and Gubi chairs from Suite NY.
Photograph by Richard Powers
Composed of laser-cut plexiglass disks, a light installation by Danish designer Vibeke Fonnesberg Schmidt dangles below the kitchen skylight. “We needed something that draws your eyes up,” says D’Haene. The range is by Wolf.
Photograph by Richard Powers
Vintage Pierre Jeanneret chairs surround a Rick Owens table in the dining room, where D’Haene installed an Achille Salvagni chandelier and a starry Kiki Smith wall piece.
Photograph by Richard Powers
This ethereal tapestry was conjured by Kiki Smith, who also created the dining room’s cluster of bronze stars. “She has a mystical, magical storytelling side to her,” notes Samuels.
Photograph by JONATHAN NESTERUK, COURTESY OF PACE GALLERY
“I wanted a warm and creamy color combination to go with the dark floor,” says D’Haene of the living area, which includes an array of organic shapes in muted tones. Creating a striking contrast on the wall is a major canvas by Ellsworth Kelly titled Four Panels, which was shown at Matthew Marks Gallery in one of the legendary artist’s final exhibitions before his 2015 death.
Photograph by Richard Powers
A Mel Bochner text painting adds a wry note behind the library’s Marco Dessi sofa, which is covered in a Holly Hunt fabric and flanked by Jean-Michel Frank–style lamps on Moss & Lam side tables; the bronze cluster tables are by Stéphane Parmentier from Maison Gerard, and the rug is by Joseph Carini Carpets.
Photograph by Richard Powers
A pendant created by D’Apostrophe Design hovers above the study’s François Bauchet desk, which is topped with a lamp by Serge Mouille; the armchair is by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret, and the rug is by Tai Ping.
Photograph by Richard Powers
Soft textures rule in the primary bedroom, where D’Haene used a Pierre Frey sueded fabric on the wall behind the Minotti bed, dressed with Frette bedding and a throw of Donghia fabric; India Mahdavi lamps top the custom nightstands, the W-shape banquette is by Pierre Paulin, Angela Brown fabrics were used for the curtains and on the Dimore Studio bench, and the mohair-cashmere rug is by Beauvais Carpets.
Photograph by Richard Powers
In an alcove outside the primary bath, an artwork by John Houck hangs above a Dimore Studio bench.
Photograph by Richard Powers
An eye-catching bronze cabinet by French artisan Vincent Dubourg anchors the home’s soaring entry foyer. This similarly pixelated bureau, which is painted canary yellow, is available through Carpenters Workshop Gallery.
Photograph by COURTESY OF CARPENTERS WORKSHOP GALLERY
The entrance hall features a Frederik Molenschot chandelier swirling above a Sterling Ruby painting, a Vincent Dubourg credenza that hosts a Pierre Yovanovitch lamp, and a Jiun Ho bench next to the window.
Photograph by Richard Powers
The vast entry called for a monumental lighting fixture, so Francis D’Haene turned to Dutch artisan Frederik Molenschot, who works primarily in cast bronze. “It was so big we had to take out a window to bring it in,” he says. “I love that you can also experience the piece horizontally from the stair landing.”
Photograph by COURTESY OF CARPENTERS WORKSHOP GALLERY
A Roe Ethridge photograph overlooks a guest room’s Finn Juhl armchairs from Design Within Reach and a table from Galerie Negropontes; the rug is by ALT for Living.
Photograph by Richard Powers
“Roe Ethridge is a consummate photographer,” gushes Samuels, who placed one of the Miami-born talent’s evocative beach scenes in a guest room. “He’s able to give a kind of glamour to everyday subjects.” This color-soaked 2015 print illustrates his mastery of the medium.
Photograph by ROE ETHRIDGE, COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND GAGOSIAN
The expansive rear lawn is dotted with old trees and bordered by gardens overseen by Hollander Design Landscape Architects.
Photograph by Richard Powers
Taking cues from the region’s Shingle Style architecture, Thomas A. Kligerman designed the home with unexpected moments. “As you approach the house, you don’t actually see a front door—you only discover the entrance once you reach the covered porch.”
Photograph by Richard Powers
At over eight feet tall, this graceful sculpture by French artist Camille Henrot makes a swooping statement in the back garden. Art adviser Erica Samuels discovered the piece during 2019’s Art Basel in Switzerland. “It’s lyrical, poetic, and light, even though it’s made of heavy bronze,” she says. “You can appreciate it from so many angles.”
Photograph by Richard Powers
Vladimir Kagan lounge chairs from Ralph Pucci sit inside the pool pavilion, which contains a teak bar conceived by D’Apostrophe Design; teak chaise longues by Roda line one side of the pool.
