What better way to atone for holiday overindulgence than the East Hampton Historical Society’s annual House and Garden Tour, which will open the doors of five distinctive homes for self-guided tours on Nov. 29 between 1 and 4:30 p.m.? As usual, a benefit cocktail party will be held the night before, on Friday, Nov. 28, from 6 to 8. That event, already sold out, will be at a private residence in Amagansett’s Devon Colony.
“The House and Garden Tour is a delightful way to unwind after the Thanksgiving Day festivities where attendees get a unique glimpse into some of East Hampton’s most iconic homes while creating lasting memories,” said Dale Ellen Leff, a historical society trustee and chairwoman of the special events committee. “By supporting the House and Garden Tour, you can enrich your appreciation of our community’s architectural heritage and, even more importantly, support the vital programs and museums of the East Hampton Historical Society.”
The House Tour has been a tradition for more than three decades. What began as a small tour with just a few historical homes has grown to feature some of East Hampton’s most notable houses, among them Grey Gardens, the White House, the historic Woodhouse Playhouse, and Windy Dunes, one of the original Devon Colony houses.
The homes on the tour are chosen to express East Hampton’s unique sense of place, celebrating some of its finest examples of architecture and history, each with an intriguing story to tell. Often tucked behind hedgerows or down long winding lanes, they showcase their owners’ thoughtful stewardship down through the years, spanning the 19th century through the 21st.
The quotation “There are three things that matter in property: location, location, location” is widely attributed to Lord Harold Samuel, a British real estate tycoon in the 1940s, though some suggest it may have first appeared in a 1926 classified ad. Whatever its origin, it was made long after the construction of the house at 165 Lily Pond Lane in East Hampton, which dates from 1910 and stands as a prime example of its verity.
The house sits atop one of the highest, if not the highest, point of the dunes overlooking the Atlantic. Originally part of the 10-acre Minskoff estate, the property, now a shy six acres of green lawn and manicured bushes, contains a six-bedroom main house, a three-bedroom guest cottage, and a one-bedroom playroom/garage.
“In my opinion, 165 Lily Pond is the jewel of the tour,” said Lysbeth Marigold, a historical society trustee and the historian of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. “The amazing thing about the house is that it’s only one room deep. Basically it’s one room after another, and every one of them looks out onto the ocean.”
While some rooms are formal, such as the dining room with its Venetian-umbrella Fortuny ceiling fixture, others are less so, with dollhouses and Monopoly games, family photographs, and a row of small-framed portraits created by the owner during Covid. Custom stained-glass windows flank the upstairs hallway.
How the current owner, Loida Lewis and her family, came to own the house is a story in itself. Her late husband, Reginald Lewis, the nation’s first Black billionaire,
bought Broadview, the main house at Amagansett’s Bell Estate, in 1988. They were the first family to live there since the death of Agnes Loftus Bell, the widow of Dr. Dennistoun M. Bell, in 1968. The 21-room house had dramatic views from the bluff overlooking Gardiner’s Bay. The Lewises and their two daughters lived there for almost four years before it burned to the ground in November 1991.
Mr. Lewis would often drive his family up and down Lily Pond Lane on their way to Main Beach or Georgica Beach, according to Ms. Marigold, “and as he drove by he used to say, ‘That is the house I want.’ They bought it in 1992, and, unfortunately, he died a year later at the age of 50.”
It still belongs to the Lewis family. While Loida comes out to visit, her older daughter, Christina, lives there with her husband and their children. In addition to the architecture and the vistas, the family owns museum-quality African and African-American art, including a large fertility sculpture from Ghana and paintings by such noted African-American artists as Claude Lawrence, Norman Lewis, Romare Bearden, and Betye Saar.
The other four houses on the tour include one, built in 1780 during the British occupation, that is thought to have been the home of a teacher at Clinton Academy. Another, designed by Alfredo De Vido, is memorable for its architecture and the forest of white pine trees that surrounds it. A Bates Masi house uses postmodern innovations to evoke a sense of the past, while a sprawling shingle-style residence is filled with antiques, among them a fireplace from London.
Tickets bought in advance for the House and Garden Tour are $120 and are available on the historical society’s website.
