GRAPHĒ: A Couple Unearth Pencil-Drawn Plans for Their Dream Home in a Fallen Shed

A chance discovery sets in motion a reverent renovation of a quirky Long Island home.

Chris Fisher and Blair Moritz were closing on a wonky, neglected weekend house in East Hampton, New York, in 2014 when they made their discovery. Amid the ruins of a recently demolished shed at the edge of the property, stashed between some windows piled on the ground, were the original, pencil-drawn overhead plans for the midcentury house. They were signed by Andrew Geller. "We were flying," says Chris.

While in the process of purchasing a twice-remodeled house by Andrew Geller, Chris Fisher and Blair Moritz stumbled upon overhead drawings signed by the architect. The way forward became clear. — While in the process of purchasing a twice-remodeled house by Andrew Geller, Chris Fisher and Blair Moritz stumbled upon overhead drawings signed by the architect. The way forward
became clear. "Once we saw his drawings, we couldn’t get those images out of our heads,"
says Chris. "We started to dream of living in the house the way Geller had dreamed of it."

Photo by Paul Barbera

For the better part of the 1950s and ’60s, Geller, the Brooklyn-born son of Russian immigrants, dotted the beach communities near New York City with whimsical, geometrically complex vacation homes—appealing to buyers who thumbed their collective nose at the boxy orthodoxy of International Style. (He also designed a line of ultra-affordable prefab beach bungalows, sold under the name Leisurama at Macy’s.)

Restoration architect Forrest Frazier confined all new and non-historical elements, like the renovated deck and carport, to the rear of the house.

Photo by Paul Barbera

Although Geller interpreted modernism as singularly as other great, now-canonical outliers like John Lautner or E. Fay Jones, he is still not as well known. On Christmas Day 2011, eulogists lamented both the architect’s passing and the slowness with which his contributions were being reevaluated.