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

As the 1960s became the “Sixties,” architect Horace Gifford executed a remarkable series of beach houses that transformed the terrain and culture of New Yorks 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.

Giffords 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 Islands boardwalks. Truman Capote wroteBreakfast at Tiffanys here. Diane von Frstenberg 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 Islands natural beauty.

• Publisher : Metropolis Books (April 29, 2025)
• Language : English
• ISBN-10 : 1881616991
• ISBN-13 : 978-1881616993
• Item Weight : 2.5 pounds

Blending cultural and architectural history, Fire Island Modernist ponders a fascinating era through an overlooked architect whose life, work and colorful milieu trace the operatic arc of a lost generation, and still resonate with artistic and historical import. First published in 2013 and long out of print, this iconic book returns in an expanded edition, including four new featured houses and a new afterword by Charles Renfro.