Hamptons Cottages and Gardens: July 2023
On one of Sag Harbor’s most storied streets, a newly built home manages to hide in plain sight.
BY DAVID MASELLO | PHOTOGRAPHS BY READ MCKENDREE
So many people stop to look at and photograph the new house on Glover Street that three of its residents, six-year-old Rowan, her four-and-a-half-year-old sister, Dakota, and Sammy, a 100-pound Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, have taken to sitting at the front windows to watch and wave at the passersby. “The girls love to gather there every day,” says their mother, Kiley DeMarco. “It has become their favorite spot.” Kiley and her husband, Nick DeMarco, president of an eponymous residential construction company, wanted to build a home for themselves in Sag Harbor that, according to Nick, “ has a contemporary vibe, but looks as if it ties in directly to the history of the village.” Thanks to the couple’s collaboration with architects Aaron Proulx and Jun Lee of Craft Modern and interior designer Alicia Murphy, their goal was realized, and then some.
The two-story wooden residence that has been grabbing so much attention is particularly distinctive for its steeply pitched roof and monumental chimney, which form a decidedly modern silhouette that also nods to the symmetrical, centuries-old whaling captains’ houses found throughout the village. “Before building this home,” DeMarco says, “we lived on the street for 10 years, and its history and the scale of the houses that line the length of it mean a lot to me. This is now the first modern house on the street, and I think it fits in well.”
Getting the perfect fit was made just a bit easier by the fact that the design professionals on the team all happen to be good friends. Murphy and Nick DeMarco went to high school together in Huntington, Long Island, and had previously joined forces on five local spec houses (although Murphy prefers the term “designed to sell” houses). “This was the first time that Nick was my client, which made the process a bit more challenging, but also more exciting,” Murphy recounts. “I’m usually wary about working with friends, but because Nick always wants the best of the best in his projects and asked for my help on his own home, I said, ‘I’ll show up for that.’ And as an interior decorator, it was fun for me to work some traditional design threads into a more modern structure.”
The DeMarcos had been living in a rental property directly across the street, so when this parcel with an undistinguished ranch house on it went on the market, they leapt at the chance to buy it. All those spectators’ views inside come courtesy of massive floor-to-ceiling windows that pierce the front façade, but “we don’t live in a fishbowl,” Nick points out, noting that the home’s main staircase is positioned in front of the windows and privacy is further established by an elegant oak-and-metal rain screen fashioned by Murphy and Craft Modern. “The slats create beautiful shadows,” Murphy comments, “and while people can look in, they can’t see that far in.”
For the finishes and furnishings, Murphy struck a delicate balance between Nick’s penchant for all things modern and neutral and Kiley’s desire for “a softer, more beachy Hamptons feel.” Oak paneling and flooring are employed throughout the home, a subtle foil to the energetic herringbone stone floor in the foyer and a striking ebonized teak console. “A natural, earthy element like that piece helps accentuate the largely clean lines throughout,” says Murphy, who also let loose in the girls’ bedroom, where each sister gets her own two-story bunk bed beneath a ceiling covered in a dreamy pink wallpaper. “The girls love pink, and when they’re in bed, it’s as if they’re looking at clouds from a treehouse. It’s fun to push the boundaries of design, as long as you are always careful to keep the client in mind and, in this case, to stay true to a sense of place.”
SOURCES: Photography: Read McKendree | Builder: DeMarco Development | Architect: Craft + Modern | Stylist: Frances Bailey
