AUDIO
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
142 OCEAN WALK
AUDIO
Designed by: EDWIN WITTSTEIN & ROBERT MILLER, c. 1967.
Popularly known as the TV House, 142 Ocean’s iconic silhouette is often attributed to Horace Gifford. Like most Fire Island rumors, there is just a whiff of truth to this. The set designer Edwin Wittstein and the art director Robert Miller commissioned two Gifford homes in the early Sixties. But around 1967 the pair went rogue, designing 143 Ocean Walk themselves. This led to a cooling of the relationship with their architect. When passing by, Gifford would ostentatiously turn his back to the house before offering a slim greeting.
Slanted walls cradle the approach and the sundeck. A simple but dramatic interior features a double-height space with a lofted bedroom looking out on the sea--a proscenium in which the rituals of summer life were acted out in grand style during the 1970’s, when it was rented by architect Scott Bromley and populated by the likes of Fern Malis and Robert Mapplethorpe. Tom Bianchi immortalized the TV House in a series of Polaroids that perfectly encapsulate the emerging gay aesthetic of the Pines, and appear in his book entitled Fire Island Pines, Polaroids 1975-1983. In 2017, this home was featured in a fashion campaign starring Matt Bomer.
Photos: Courtesy Scott Bromley and Fire Island Pines Historical Preservation Society. Polaroid: Tom Bianchi. Illustration: Ferron Bell courtesy FIPHPS.
