Architects: Richard Meier & Partners
Area: 297 m² (3,200 ft²)
Year: 1969
Photography: Ezra Stoller, Esto, meierarchitects.us, saltzmanhouse.blogspot.com, WikiArquitectura
Clients: Renny B. Saltzman, Ellin Saltzman
City: East Hampton
Country: United States
Saltzman House, a single-family residence designed by Richard Meier & Partners in East Hampton, New York, United States, developed an early version of Meier’s architectural language through white surfaces, geometric composition, controlled circulation, and natural light and was completed in 1969. The 297 m² house occupies a flat three-acre property near the eastern end of Long Island and consists of a three-storey main volume connected to a smaller guesthouse. Saltzman House separates public and private functions vertically and spatially while allowing the two zones to overlap as the building rises. Private bedrooms and service spaces occupy the more enclosed lower level, while living areas and terraces move upward to capture views toward the Atlantic coastline that are unavailable from the ground plane. A bridge from the guesthouse leads directly to the middle level of the main house, establishing one circulation sequence, while a diagonal interior stair forms a second route through the center of the residence. An exterior spiral stair connects all three levels. White-painted vertical wood siding, ribbon windows, curved wall surfaces, steel columns, glass, reinforced concrete, and load-bearing timber partitions distinguish different parts of the composition. Double- and triple-height spaces open the interior vertically, while terraces, voids, and large areas of glazing introduce daylight throughout the house. Saltzman House reflects Meier’s engagement with early European Modernism, particularly Le Corbusier, while establishing themes of abstraction, layered space, light, and circulation that remained central to his later work.
Saltzman House was commissioned in 1967 by Renny B. and Ellin Saltzman for a site in East Hampton. The property occupies approximately three acres of flat land near agricultural fields, the shoreline, and a windmill, while distant views toward the Atlantic become visible only from elevated positions.
The site influenced the vertical organization of the residence. Meier raised the principal communal spaces above the more enclosed ground floor so that the upper levels could engage the coastline and surrounding landscape. The resulting composition gives the upper mass a lighter appearance while maintaining a more protected base for private functions.
The house consists of a primary three-storey volume and an adjoining guesthouse connected by a raised bridge. The two structures establish a sequence in which arrival begins outside the main residence rather than at ground level. An exterior stair attached to the guesthouse leads to the bridge and then to the middle floor of the house.
The bridge makes arrival part of the house’s vertical organization. Meier later used an upper-level entrance bridge at Douglas House, where a steep slope toward Lake Michigan sets up a different relationship between the approach and the rooms below.
Public and private zones organize the plan. The private zone occupies two adjacent sides of the house and is more enclosed at the lower level, while the public zone expands as the building rises. This relationship becomes progressively less rigid on the second floor and disappears more fully on the upper level, where terraces and open space dominate.
The earlier Smith House offers a useful comparison: its enclosed entrance side gives way to a glazed living zone facing the water. At Saltzman House, the division between private and communal space becomes less rigid as the rooms and terraces rise.
The middle level contains the principal living space, which rises through two storeys and receives daylight from large glazed openings. Round steel columns stand within this open zone rather than enclosing it with load-bearing walls, while four columns frame an opening toward the dining room below, creating the only triple-height space in the house. The master bedroom adjoins the living area and includes a walk-in closet, ensuite bathroom, and covered terrace, placing a private room within the more open middle-level composition and reinforcing the overlap between public and private zones that distinguishes the Saltzman House from a more rigidly separated plan.
The lower level contains the kitchen, den, two bathrooms, four bedrooms, and dining room. Timber load-bearing walls divide these more compartmentalized spaces, establishing a material and structural distinction from the open public areas supported by round steel columns.
The upper level is occupied largely by terrace space and overlooks the double-height living room below, a visual connection also found at Gwathmey’s nearby Amagansett house. This level completes the vertical progression from enclosed private rooms to increasingly open communal space and exterior terraces while improving access to distant views.
Two principal circulation systems structure movement through the house. The first begins at the exterior stair by the guesthouse and continues across the elevated bridge into the main residence. The second runs diagonally through the center of the house, forming a spatial seam between the public and private areas.
An exterior spiral stair creates another connection between all three levels. Together, the bridge, diagonal interior stair, and spiral stair produce multiple routes through the house and frame changing views of the interior, surrounding fields, coastline, and sky.
The exterior composition is based on a predominantly cubic volume modified through subtraction, openings, terraces, and a prominent curved plane. Vertical white-painted timber siding reinforces the abstract treatment of the exterior, while long ribbon windows and smaller openings correspond to specific interior conditions.
Saltzman House uses different structural and material systems according to spatial function. Timber load-bearing walls define private areas, while hollow steel columns support more open communal spaces. Reinforced concrete, glass, timber, and steel work together within a composition that distinguishes enclosure from openness without separating them into unrelated architectural languages.
Daylight plays a central role in the organization of the house. Voids, ribbon windows, larger glazed surfaces, terraces, and double-height spaces bring light deep into the interior and reinforce the relationship between geometry and occupation. Openings correspond closely to the arrangement of rooms rather than forming an independent facade pattern.
The curved surfaces, raised volumes, white exterior, ribbon windows, columns, and terraces reflect Meier’s engagement with the architecture of Le Corbusier and early European Modernism. Saltzman House translates those references into a domestic composition shaped by its Long Island site, internal circulation, and division between private and communal life.
Saltzman House became one of the residences through which Meier established the architectural vocabulary associated with his early career. The project received a 1972 AIA New York Citation for Excellence in Residential Design and remains closely associated with the development of his approach to whiteness, geometry, layered space, circulation, and light.
Project Gallery
Project Location
Address: 20 Spaeth Lane, East Hampton, New York, United States
Location is for general reference and may represent a city or country, not necessarily a precise address.
The way Meier separates public and private zones vertically while keeping the white geometric volumes so clean is a great study in light and circulation. Early-career houses like this are fun to re-visualize in different material palettes too.