About this Book

After a fire destroyed his colonial revival house on Fisher's Island, Tom Armstrong and his wife commissioned Thomas Phifer and Partners to design a spectacular modernist steel and glass house on the same site, fulfilling Mr. Armstrong's dream of living in a garden surrounded by art. Beginning with the first house, this book takes us through the fire, the selection of an architect, the building of the new house, and the acquisition of furnishings and art. Throughout we encounter designs and artwork by such notables as Marcel Breuer, Frank Gehry, Mies van der Rohe, Eero Sarrinen, Mark di Suvero, Isamu Noguchi, Betty Woodman, Alfred Leslie, Leon Polk Smith, Terry Winters, and a host of others. We also become privy to the thinking of an inventive gardener whose meticulous planning has resulted in an extraordinary setting for architecture and art and is open to the public during the summer months.