History Is Now In Fashion At Ralph Lauren

Timbers from Colonial house among the racks

By Carissa Katz

(12/14/2006)    There was never any doubt that the commercial building at 45 Main Street in East Hampton Village was historically important, but even the village’s historic-preservation consultant, Robert Hefner, did not know just how significant it was until last spring, when interior demolition revealed what he called “a remarkable relic.”

Robert Hefner Corner posts, studs, and ceiling joists — relics of a 300-year-old house that was one of the first in East Hampton — were found behind the plaster walls and ceiling at 45 Main Street.

    Hidden behind the plaster walls and ceiling on the first floor of the building (most recently occupied by Victoria’s Mother and Mayfair jewelers) was the 300-year-old timber frame of what is believed to be one of East Hampton’s earliest houses.

    The small one-and-a-half-story house had just one room with a garret above it. The four other “first period” houses still standing in East Hampton all have at least two rooms. “This is the only house representative of East Hampton’s settlers of more modest means,” Mr. Hefner wrote in a report to the village’s design review board, which has monitored John Eastman’s renovation plans for the building. “This original house is unique in East Hampton, and as far as I know no other examples survive on Long Island.”

    The design review board was concerned initially that the remnants of the important little house would be lost in the renovation of the building, which will be a Ralph Lauren Polo store opening in the spring of 2007. Mr. Eastman allowed Mr. Hefner to inspect and report on the frame for the village. Although only portions of the frame remain, there is enough of it to give “a good understanding of the original small house,” Mr. Hefner wrote. The timbers in the frame were hewn and planed smooth and were simply decorated with carved grooves. Parts of the original fireplace were sealed behind the plaster, as well, and the original floor joists were still there.

    The larger building surrounding the first-period house was constructed later in the 18th century. By the 1840s, the building was a general store, hotel, and post office operated by Thomas T. Parsons. It was later remodeled with an addition for the post office on the side closer to Newtown Lane. In the 1890s, a porch was added across the front of the building. A fire in 1907 damaged the post office addition, and it was torn down, but the original house was unharmed. Eventually, the porch was closed in and became two storefronts.

    Originally, Mr. Eastman planned to keep the center chimney and some of the timber floor joists

Robert Hefner The west post of the chimney still bears signs of the original red paint used around 1700.

in the renovated building. Instead, the chimney was taken down, but in the final phase of renovations, Ralph Lauren will put back the ceiling frame of the 1600s house, which will show a “summer beam” and floor joists cut with a pit saw. Also remaining from the original building will be corner posts.

    All these will be left exposed in the back of the store for all to see, because the Ralph Lauren company “understands the significance of it,” Mr. Eastman’s architect, Greg Zwirko of Zwirko and Ortmann Architects, said at a design review board meeting on Dec. 6.

    “We should applaud and commend Ralph Lauren for offering to save and preserve this important part of East Hampton,” Mr. Zwirko said.

    “This is a great moment, I think, for our historic district on Main Street, to have a happy ending to this saga which began last spring,” Mr. Hefner told the design review board then. “It’s amazing that you’re going to go into this store and you’re going to see something that you don’t see anywhere else in the town of East Hampton.”

    The only other place that such a structure can be seen locally is at the Halsey house in Southampton, which is owned by the Southampton Historical Association.

    Ralph Lauren also got accolades last week from the East Hampton Historical society “for saving the little building inside the big building,” and from the Ladies Village Improvement Society.

    The company will take over the full building, which had been divided into two separate storefronts. Last week, it asked the design review board for permission to paint the trim work on the building “pocket-watch white,” an off-white color from the Ralph Lauren paint collection, and to paint the shutters Ralph Lauren blue-black. The construction barricade will also be painted Ralph Lauren blue-black, with gold letters that say, “RALPH LAUREN SPRING 2007.” The board approved the requests.

    Also last Thursday, the design review board looked at revised plans for the brick building at 1 Main Street, on the corner of Newtown Lane. Mr. Hefner called those plans “a very consistent, well-thought-out treatment” for the building. New trim, windows, doors, and some brickwork will be included in the exterior renovations there.

    The differences in the building will be more in the details than in the overall appearance. Instead of six individual units inside, there will be just one commercial unit to be occupied by Elie Tahari, a high-end women’s clothing boutique. An elevator will be installed and the roof will be dropped slightly so that heating and cooling mechanisms on top of the building will not be visible from the street.

    Although the application for changes to 1 Main Street is not quite complete, the board seemed pleased with what was proposed.