Sep 4, 2017
Fire Island, just 50 miles from
New York City, was one of the few gathering places in the 1950’s
where gay people could feel safe in a world that certainly did not
offer such a welcome. It was also a haven for the creative
class from New York and LA who built houses by Andrew
Geller, Harry Bates, and the unbelievably attractive
Horace Gifford. Our guest is Chris
Rawlins, architect and author of
critically-acclaimed Fire Island Modernist: Horace Gifford and the
Architecture of Seduction. Chris is an architect who
lives in New York City and Fire Island and is founder of Pines
Modern, a non-profit preservation initiative documenting the
island’s architecture.
We also talk with the last living
mid-century architect of Fire Island, Harry Bates,
whose masterful Modernist coastal residences adorn both Fire Island
and the Hamptons.