In the third essay in a five-part series for Casabella on Gordon Bunshaft, architectural historian Nicholas Adams examines the Travertine House (also known as the Bunshaft Residence). Completed in 1963, the Long Island weekend getaway served as a gallery of sorts for Bunshaft’s extensive collection of sculpture and painting. The building’s grounded, practical form illustrated Bunshaft’s unromanticized vision and functional approach.
The house was simple in form: a box measuring 100 feet by 26 feet. There was a central living room running the depth of the house, a master bedroom and bathroom at one end, a kitchen, guest bedroom, and studio. The living room and porch faced out over Georgica Pond. Known especially through a series of photographs by architectural photographer Ezra Stoller, the Travertine House was truly a residential gallery. Said Architectural Record in 1965, “The Bunshaft house is a perfect setting for paintings and sculpture and each piece in the collection is seen to its full advantage.”
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