Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Fire Island Modernist: Horace Gifford and the Architecture of Seduction: Expanded Edition

Fire Island Modernist: Horace Gifford and the Architecture of Seduction: Expanded Edition

Rawlins, Christopher
Gordon, Alastair
Renfro, Charles

Hardcover

Art HistoryArchitecture HistoryRegional Architecture

Publisher Price: $65.00

ISBN10: 1881616991
ISBN13: 9781881616993
Publisher: Metropolis Books
Published: Apr 29 2025
Pages: 224
Weight: 3.53
Height: 1.00 Width: 9.30 Depth: 12.20
Language: English

Featuring new houses, many additional photographs and a new afterword, Fire Island Modernist offers a fascinating look at the history and culture of this gay paradise through the life and work of Horace Gifford

Published with Gordon De Vries Studio.

As the 1960s became the Sixties, architect Horace Gifford executed a remarkable series of beach houses that transformed the terrain and culture of New York's Fire Island. Growing up on the beaches of Florida, Gifford forged a deep connection with coastal landscapes. Pairing this sensitivity with jazzy improvisations on modernist themes, he perfected a sustainable modernism in cedar and glass that was as attuned to natural landscapes as to our animal natures. Gifford's serene 1960s pavilions provided refuge from a hostile world, while his exuberant post-Stonewall, pre-AIDS masterpieces orchestrated bacchanals of liberation. Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift once spurned Hollywood limos for the rustic charm of Fire Island's boardwalks. Truman Capote wrote Breakfast at Tiffany's here. Diane von Fürstenberg showed off her latest wrap dresses to an audience that included Halston, Giorgio Sant' Angelo, Calvin Klein and Geoffrey Beene. Today, such a roster evokes the aloof, gated compounds of the Hamptons or Malibu. But these celebrities lived in modestly scaled homes alongside middle-class vacationers, all with equal access to Fire Island's natural beauty.

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