OBP House Restored
Volume 49, Issue 8
By: Emily Aldridge

“My dream has always been to have a beach house,” said Larry Theodore with an adoring glance around his newly purchased and renovated house in Ocean Bay Park . Many Fire Island homeowners would agree with Theodore, but Larry and his wife, Pat, showed a unique level of dedication when restoring their newly bought house last year.

When the Theodores started looking for a house on Fire Island in 2004, they had never been to the island before, despite the fact that they live in nearby Bethpage . The Theodores were therefore largely unaware of the issues potential buyers face on the island. When they purchased the house in February, 2004, after one visit, they were excited, but were not sure if they should be wary of the fact that the house was beachfront.

“We didn’t know what the hell we were doing,” said Pat with a laugh. “We were thinking, “Is this thing going to wash away?’”

The Theodores were too enamored with the house, however, and after purchasing it, Larry and Pat threw themselves full-force into its total renovation. Fortunately, they are no strangers to restoring homes after buying and maintaining their 250-year-old farmhouse in Bethpage , as well as other real estate ventures.

“We love old houses,” said Pat. “We’re workhorses; we love to renovate.”

The Theodores found themselves faced with a worthy challenge when they began to clear the house, which was filled with four dumpsters worth of old belongings. The problem (and the most fun part) was, not everything in the house was garbage; hidden among the piles of junk were valuable antiques, collected over the years by the house’s previous owners. The relics uncovered by the Theodores during their clean-up revealed the house’s rich history.

 

The James Amster House, as the Theodores’ new home is called in Ocean Bay Park , was built in the 1930s in Bellport and was subsequently floated over to Fire Island to become the first house on the ocean in Ocean Bay Park . The house was apparently well known in its day. During their initial clearing of the house, the Theodores found a copy of a ’60s-era House and Garden magazine, in which the floated-over house was featured in the article “Transplanted Beach House.” They also came upon a 1960s Bell Systems ad for extension phones on Fire Island, which showed photographs of the house accompanied by such phrases as, “In the cool and relaxing master bedroom, the bedside Princess phone permits calling in quiet comfort…”

A new chapter was added to the house’s story after a devastating storm hit Fire Island in 1991 and severely eroded Ocean Bay Park ’s beach. The house, which had been set sideways to look like a ship heading out to sea, was lifted, rotated 90 degrees, and moved back from the shoreline by contractor Lani Vannoni, who returned to the house last year to help the Theodores with the renovation.

With the help of Vannoni, whose “very detailed workmanship and craftsmanship” the Theodores lauded, and the Theodores’ son Phil, a Manhattan designer who owns an East Village furniture store, the Theodores completely redesigned the house, taking it back to the look of its ’60s heyday. The house’s storied past is still evident in every room, where the Theodores chose antique pieces left in the house to preserve its historical appeal. “We didn’t want to take away the old charm,” said the Theodores.

The Theodores have since matted and framed the articles in which the house was featured, showcasing the house’s past and highlighting their preservation of its decorative artifacts, which are mirrored in the rooms around the framed articles. All of the light fixtures in the house are original, including a chandelier seen in the House and Garden article and an antique hotel lighting fixture found in the kitchen in the Bell Systems ad.

Along with the antiques they found in the house, the Theodores used colored glass tile from the GM Pavilion at the 1964-65 World’s Fair in the two bathrooms. Any new touches in the house were modified to fit in with the rest of the house, lending it a coherent and old-fashioned feel.

What is most evident about the house, however, is not its history, but how much the Theodores cherish their new weekend home, as well as the Fire Island way of life. Eagerly pointing out every detail of the house, Larry said the house is his “baby” out of all his real estate projects. The couple spends every weekend on the island, soaking up the sun on the beach just steps from their deck.

“I only wish we had discovered Fire Island earlier,” said Pat.