The diamond-shaped Pearlroth Beach House in Westhampton, Long Island has been compared to a box kite. It's one of the remaining beach houses by the innovative postmodernist, Andrew Michael Geller. But the house is destined for demolition unless Geller's grandson, documentary filmmaker Jake Gorst, can move it to a new location. Gorst would like to renovate the house and turn it into a museum, but he's racing against time to raise enough money.

The Pearlroth Beach House in Westhampton, designed by Andrew Michael Geller in 1959, is one of the most recognized of the series of innovative and provocative beach houses constructed on Long Island in the late 1950s. Also called the “Box-Kite House” or “Square Brassiere,” the house has inspired designers and beach-goers for generations.

Jake Gorst and David Shearer of Exhibitions International, Inc., a not-for-profit group based in New York City, have launched a fundraising campaign to save the unique building from destruction. The Pearlroth heirs have offered to donate the original 600 square foot beach house to Jake Gorst, provided that the structure be removed from their oceanfront property by May 15, so that they may proceed with demolition and their new building plans.

Exhibitions International Inc. has partnered with Jake Gorst to cover required legal and insurance costs as well as to spearhead the fundraising efforts and manage the relocation and restoration project. They hope to relocate the architectural icon from 615 Dune Road to the bayside parking facility of “Pikes Beach,” the Town-owned beach recreation area in the Village of Westhampton Dunes. Once relocated, the building will be preserved as a museum.

The project has won the support of numerous architects and historians. Alastair Gordon, author of several published works about resort architecture including “Weekend Utopia: The Modern Beach House on Eastern Long Island,” writes: “I can say without hesitation that Andrew Geller’s Pearlroth House in Westhampton Beach is one of the most important examples of experimental design built during the post war period – not just on Long Island but anywhere in the United States. It is witty, bold and inventive while also being diminutive in scale and built with inexpensive material."

Marilyn M. Fenollosa, the Senior Program Office and Regional Attorney for the Northeast Office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, writes: “The structure’s twin-glassed diamond-shaped wings are evocative of the carefree life and times of the beach communities that were rapidly developing."

Architect Joseph Scarpulla of Huntington who states, “The Pearlroth House is not only the work of a well-admired designer, it represents an important moment in the architecture of the Hamptons, when the migration of second home (vacation home) owners discovered the area and it became the fertile ground for architectural invention, experimentation and creativity."

Charles Bellows, Chairman of the Town’s Landmarks and Historic Districts Board, states that “early, classic little beach houses … from the Modern era are disappearing at an alarming rate."

AIA’s past president Jim Martino writes, “When thinking in terms of architects whose work had an impact on our profession and society one thinks of obviously Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropious, Mies van de Rohe, Philip Johnson, and the generation after them, Gwathmey and Meier, and recently, Frank Ghery. We are of the opinion that history will prove, if it hasn’t already, that [Andrew Geller's] school of work influenced countless architects after him simply by the virtue of the many diverse homes that have since been built across the landscape of Long Island’s beach front communities that emulate his style.”

Jake Gorst has begun to receive the vendor quotes necessary to undertake house moving, coordination with utility companies, pile-driving for its new supports, and restoration. Total moving costs to cribbing are estimated at $12,000 with utility coordination costs of approx. $25,000 (Verizon and Long Island Power Authority). Cablevision has offered to significantly reduce its costs associated with utility work. The pile driving is about $10,000 followed by $6,000 to relocate the house from cribbing to its new supports. Restoration and furnishing costs are estimated at $150,000. The total project cost for relocation and restoration is about $203,000.

To contribute to the “Save the Pearlroth House Campaign,” contact David Shearer at shearer@ei-ny.org.

• Read about the Andrew Geller beach house in The Independent
• Learn more about the Pearlroth House from ArchInform