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Pines Modern is a brand-new, non-profit 501(c)(3) endeavor dedicated to the rediscovery of all that the Pines has created, particularly its mid-century architectural and cultural heritage. We ask for your support in the form of tax deductible contributions to help us to continue discovering, documenting, and sharing the best that Fire Island Pines has to offer. There is much more to document! Our significant expenses include professional photography, drum-scanning of vintage images, creation and maintenance of the web site, required non-profit insurance, preservation consultations with homeowners, and the staffing of Pines Modern functions. Our officers are not paid for their efforts.
Donors at the $50 annual level and above will receive priority notification for house tours and other Pines Modern events. Each donor who contributes $150 and above will receive a free ticket to the next Pines Modern house tour. Please contact us if you would like to place an advertisement on our site.
For support regarding donations, send your message here.
2019 Contributors
Adam Wade
Pines Modern is a brand-new, non-profit 501(c)(3) endeavor dedicated to the rediscovery of all that the Pines has created, particularly its mid-century architectural and cultural heritage. We ask for your support in the form of tax deductible contributions to help us to continue discovering, documenting, and sharing the best that Fire Island Pines has to offer. There is much more to document! Our significant expenses include professional photography, drum-scanning of vintage images, creation and maintenance of the web site, required non-profit insurance, preservation consultations with homeowners, and the staffing of Pines Modern functions. Our officers are not paid for their efforts.
Donors at the $50 annual level and above will receive priority notification for house tours and other Pines Modern events. Each donor who contributes $150 and above will receive a free ticket to the next Pines Modern house tour. Please contact us if you would like to place an advertisement on our site.
For support regarding donations, send your message here.
2019 Contributors
Adam Wade
523 SNAPPER WALK
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Architect: HORACE GIFFORD, 1965.
A swimming pool, a gatehouse, a fence and roof deck are recent additions to 523 Snapper Walk, but the house remains intact.
Gifford's second personal residence formed a pinwheel of shed-roofed towers around a living area that exploded into voyeuristic stages for living. Glass doors opened wide in the public spaces to create a breezeway through each birds flew, achieving a remarkable tension between the openness of the flat-roofed public spaces and the high-waisted sentinels housing the bedrooms, bathroom, and kitchen. On this low-lying site, Gifford conjured “towers that reach out and grab for light.” As he told Newsday in 1966, “I planned for the sun, but when the moon goes around the house, it is so beautiful.” A shifting ceiling plane acted as an ever-changing foil to a floor plan that was consistently composed using “golden section” proportions.
With this home, Gifford perfected the transition from nature to architecture. Upon stepping off the common boardwalk, a leaf-strewn path threaded between two trees and ascended two exterior decks, which progressed to two interior stages, and culminated in a fifth outdoor level at the other end of the inhabited breezeway. This progression formed a multitude of experiences, from leaves and shade toward western light, treetops, and a water view. Gifford was so proud of this project that he sent photographs to Louis Kahn; his mentor replied, “Horace, you have created a mountain and a valley.”
Inside, narrow steps formed threshold between public and private spaces, compressing the senses before the release of the spare, light-filled bedrooms. Compact in plan, from a reclining position they were expansive. Low furniture exaggerated the sensation of height. The first walking moments witnessed a dance of light skimming across the high, rough-hewn spruce ceiling. Slim, floor-to-ceiling jalousie windows in the master bedroom fostered an interior focus in counterpoint with the extroverted public spaces. Wooden wall surfaces were hung with archaic farm implements, a column capital, and the inner workings of a clock. Another found object – the felt-and-wire innards of a piano – watched over the living area, in silent tribute to the musicality of the architecture.
This home is featured in Fire Island Modernist: Horace Gifford and the Architecture of Seduction.
Photos: Vintage: Horace Gifford courtesy Christopher Rawlins. New: Tom Sibley. Magazine covers: Ricardo Labougle, AD Spain. Plan and rendering: Christopher Rawlins. Piano Drawing: Horace Gifford courtesy Christopher Rawlins. Vintage magazine: The American Home/Horace Gifford.
