Claxton House in Sag Harbor: A Fictional Past Inspires a Timeless Waterfront Retreat

Architecture and interior design, at their very essence, are about creating living spaces that tell a compelling story.

The narrative in the case of Claxton House, a new single-family residence in the historic Long Island, New York, whaling town of Sag Harbor, so deftly weaves history and historical fiction that its timeless tale rings truer than truth.

Architect Andrew B. Cogar, president of Historical Concepts, which has offices in New York City and Atlanta, and Hamptonsbased interior designer Bryan Graybill won two Ocean Home awards for the residence they designed for one Ensign Claxton, a character they conjured up from the past to guide the project.

Their vision started with a small 19th-century ice-storage warehouse at the edge of the cove that was demolished to make way for what they call an unremarkable 1950s tract house that they were commissioned to renovate.

The 1.5-acre waterfront site is next to a rail line that, long ago, was decommissioned. The property’s utilitarian past, as well as Sag Harbor’s industrial heritage, became the basis for their shared design vision.

“The existing house sat on the water,” Cogar says. “We wanted to keep that nautical connection, both as an experience and as the framework for views.”

Striving for sophisticated simplicity, they imagined a more romanticized version of that original warehouse, seeing it as a rope-making concern that would have been added to the property as its proprietor, Ensign Claxton, late of the English Royal Navy, prospered.

Claxton, they imagined, had conducted a raid against the Americans at Sag Harbor in the War of 1812. He lost the battle, but he fell in love with the town, making it his home and building a house that reflected his European-inspired design sensibilities.

The pair are quick to point out that history records that there was, indeed, an Ensign Claxton who led a drunken disaster raid on the town. But that’s where his American story ends: He returned to England.

The warehouse-turned-residence narrative plays out architecturally on the exterior in humble materials (the façade is wood planks and wood-shingle siding punctuated by carriage doors) and implied additions (a two-story wing and a single-story wing look as though they were added at different time periods).

Because the backyard is only 10 feet from the water, Cogar and Graybill centered the entertainment area in the front of the house.

A path from the parking court leads to the garage/pool house, which is styled as a carriage house, then to the pool and a dining grove shaded by crape myrtle trees. There’s also a “secret garden” hidden behind banks of boxwood.

The interior walls of the house were removed, creating loft-like, hospitality-oriented spaces that are artfully partitioned with paneled screen walls to create distinct areas.

Natural illumination, framed views, and indoor-outdoor features are the defining thread.

“The spaces are separate, but they share light, which is an English conven – tion,” Graybill says. “They don’t take light for granted. The glazing goes almost to the ceiling.”

A club-like parlor, complete with a gen – tleman’s bar, and a three-season porch overlook the water; a primary suite nestles under a snug roofline; and a cozy reading nook with casement windows has a tree – house-like view.

A small office off the primary suite that’s wrapped in windows provides sightlines across the water and to the neighboring porch. And the guest suites are reminiscent of those in a luxury boutique hotel.

Walls of windows in the back of the house not only illuminate the spaces but also frame water views. Elements such as the sleeping porch, whose brass railing looks as though it came from a ship passing by, blissfully blur the lines between indoors and outdoors.

The interior décor was influenced by English design—Graybill and Cogar looked to Arts & Crafts, Regency style, and the Aes – thetic Movement—as well as English, French, and Viennese traditions at the time of the railroad’s heyday in the 19th century.

The open kitchen, which Graybill styled as a workroom, has a distinct English accent.

“Unlike in America, it’s not an exten – sion of the living room,” he says. “There’s no built-in cabinetry; the pieces in vari – ous woods we designed are fitted to look like furniture.”

Cogar adds that “the practical informs the pretty—everything is easy to grab,” which comes in handy when guests volun – teer to help out the chef.

Like the other rooms in the house, the kitchen features a mix of antiques and cus – tom furnishings that have the elegant look of times gone by.

The living room, whose banks of win – dows bring the water nearly close enough to touch, is the perfect fusion of Cogar’s and Graybill’s old-new/indoor-outdoor aesthetic.

There, a curvaceous apricot banquette is paired with a 1930s-style gentleman’s bar, designed by Graybill and fabricated from old-growth wood by a fourth-generation English cabinetmaker. Vintage Thonet chairs and a vintage Edward Wormley cof – fee table complete the cozy scene.

The ceiling, painted a high-gloss cream, reflects the natural light.

Throughout, Cogar and Graybill em – braced the concept of shared space, play – fully hiding things in plain sight.

In the primary bedroom, where the blue marble of the fireplace mantel evokes the water visible through multiple multipaned windows, the bed’s headboard backs up to a closet that’s defined by another wall of windows. Café curtains on the lower por – tions of the glass pique interest yet prevent peeking into this personal space.

The narrative continues in the office, which is appointed with a window seat and a vintage desk.

“We imagined that it had been an old porch,” Cogar says. Cogar and Graybill embraced the chal – lenges of the project—town regulations, for instance, forced strict height restrictions that impacted the ceiling of the primary suite.

“Architecturally, we made the most of the limitations,” Cogar says, adding that the resulting organic nature of the façade fits in with other historic homes in Sag Har – bor. “They forced us to get out of our com – fort zone and to be creative and inventive.”

And, he added, “we compressed 200 years of authentic history into the house,” a fact that would have made Ensign Claxton exceedingly proud.

KEY CONTRIBUTORS: Architect: Historical Concepts (Andrew Cogar, David VanGroningen, and Connor Bingham); Interior Designer: Bryan Graybill; Landscape Architect: Hooten Land Design; General Contractor: Ocean Building Group; Carpentry: Willy’s Carpentry; Landscape Installation: Coastal Arbor Care; Key Suppliers: Millwork Artisans, LePage Millwork Windows & Doors, Eiland Woodworks, Lutyens Furniture & Lighting; Parlor: Fireplace fender by Jamb, ceiling paint by Fine Paints of Europe, Vintage Wormley coffee table by Wyeth; Kitchen: Farrow and Ball paint, Pointing (walls), and Studio Green (trim); Primary Bedroom: Fireplace is Dragon Skin from ABC Stone

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