?book review: sag harbor: classic houses great and small

?It’s a small book, but well-known photographer John Jonas Gruen has packed it with beautiful images of the wide variety of historic homes in Sag Harbor. Gruen, who lives in a carriage house in Water Mill, spent numerous days happily wandering the tiny, winding streets of Sag Harbor Village, taking his signature black and white photos of his favorite old houses, from large mansions to small working man’s cottages.
“Since I don’t drive, I’d have my wife, Jane Wilson, or my daughter, drop me off at Canio’s Books and I’d spend hours just wandering solo all over this village, waiting for something to catch my eye,” he explained. “While I’m no architect, I can recognize a treasure when I see one, and in this village there are treasures on every block.” He said for this reason his family has been renting out their Water Mill home each summer, and choosing to spend the past few summers in Sag Harbor.
A total of 41 Sag Harbor houses comprise his new, tastefully-designed, soft-cover photobook, which is available at The Gallery in Sag Harbor. This book, just off the press, has been done in conjunction with an exhibit of these framed black and white photos, which opened on August 5 at The Gallery, and will be up through Labor Day Weekend, with a special public opening reception on September 1.
Since Gruen admits, in the introduction to his book, that he has “no knowledge of the great art of house-building or the rendering of architectural plans,” he has worked closely on this project with Richard Barons, Director of the East Hampton Historical Society. Barons also curated the photo exhibit at The Gallery, which takes up the walls of two adjacent rooms here.
In his introduction to the book, Sag Harbor: Classic Houses Great and Small, Barons describes the 18th century whaling village as “a harbor town with small lots and eccentrically arranged lanes that feed into the Main Street, like so many streams allowing gravity to control their destiny.” He added that, “What makes Sag Harbor such a feast for our eyes is the preservation of the central core of the community,” which he feels focuses on the harbor, the “heart and soul of this community.” Barons also writes, “If a single village can be an American icon – surely Sag Harbor and her historic buildings create that symbolic entity. It is the realness of a lived-in and sometimes rough-edged town that gives contrast and life to Sag Harbor.”
In his book, John Jonas Gruen has chosen to photograph some unique and varied homes, from the splendid Union Street summer mansion of former United States President Chester A. Arthur, on the book’s cover, to an 1852 Italianate Tuscan Villa on Jermain Avenue, to a Victorian “cottage” which sits prominently on Main Street. He has also photographed some interesting angles of Sag Harbor’s prestigious Whaling Museum and also some beautiful shots of the famed Custom House Museum. Walking throughout the side streets and alleys of this roughly one-square-mile village, Gruen has captured unique features of these historic homes and museums, from wide porches and carved balconies to old doors, gables and columns.
Gruen writes, “I was struck by the aura of silence that pervaded each house – a mysterious quietude that made me wonder what dramas were unfolding within… For some reason, Sag Harbor houses, unlike those in nearby towns, conjure a world of silence and quiet industriousness.”
Some of the many styles he has captured in this small town are Gothic, Greek Revival, Victorian, post-Revolutionary War Federal-style, Romantic Era, Queen Anne-style, and Classic Arts & Crafts Bungalow. It took Gruen and Barons about three years to complete the selection of houses for the exhibit and book.
Rebecca Cooper, an owner of “The Gallery,” said she thinks these photos are “museum quality,” and that “they really show why Sag Harbor is so fabulous.” She said the new book is being presented in three ways – (1) to show the architectural background and details of each house, and where it is located, (2) to show the original owners of the houses, and what they did professionally, and (3) to show the new owners, and what their houses are presently used for. Cooper said this first version of the book, which was designed as a “sort of portable catalogue” to go along with the show, is available in her gallery for $25. John Jonas Gruen is now taking orders for a larger-sized, coffee table book of these photographs, which will sell for about $65 at The Gallery in the coming months.
The public is invited to attend a special reception for these photos on September 1, from 4:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m., at The Gallery, located at 125 Main Street in Sag Harbor.
–Debbie Tuma