Pearlroth House
Icons at Risk
By David V. Griffin | From Preservation | May/June 2008
Long Island's Pearlroth House will open to the public as a museum.
Credit: Jerry Birnbaum
Pearlroth House
Location: Westhampton Beach, N.Y.
Architect: Andrew Gellar
Year: 1959
Designed by architect Andrew Gellar for Mitch and Arthur Pearlroth in 1959, this unusual house was intended to provide an idiosyncratic and inexpensive alternative to typical summer residences in the Hamptons. Built as a pair of linked diamond-shaped structures, the house has long been admired for its funky, sculptural form. Between the two diamonds, which contain three rooms and a bathroom, is a living space enclosed by glass. Now severely deteriorated, the house faced the fate of many modernist and other historic residences in the area—the possibility of removal. The owner, the Pearlroths' son, Jonathan, wanted a house better suited to a larger family and had been working with Jake Gorst, Andrew Gellar's grandson, to have the house rebuilt elsewhere. When money could not be raised, a compromise was reached: to move the house just 40 feet away. It will be open to the public as a museum, and Gorst is attempting to raise funds for a complete restoration.
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