Step inside this Sag Harbor house, where strategic views ‘blow everyone’s mind’
Meadowlark, a Sag Harbor house by Garnett.DePasquale, becomes a dreamy family countryside retreat through a series of strategic, minimalist moves

This subtly minimalist Sag Harbor house was born out of serendipity. The clients were looking for a practice to build their holiday retreat in the dynamic town close to the Hamptons. They were introduced to architect Peter DePasquale of Garnett.DePasquale Projects, and hearing he had worked with Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects for years earlier in his career - a studio familiar to them and which they admired - everything clicked into place.
Garnett.DePasquale Sag Harbor house
The couple commissioned the bourgeoining young studio, founded by Pete and his wife Becky Garnett, off the back of this connection, and the trust it brought. They were not wrong to do so. The resulting elegant home, titled Meadowlark, is proof of that.
The house took four years to complete, and 'started with something that looked like a faux whaling museum,' DePasquale says. The design naturally evolved from there, and developed into the final iteration - a single, large box, clad in stained cedar and nodding to minimalist and modernist architecture, infused with its authors' warm sensitivity and contemporary sensibilities.
The brief asked for a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house, placed in a relatively tight plot, but that didn't stop the dynamic architecture pair. 'There was a lot of investigation into how stairs could work, how we could make the floor plates make sense,' Garnett says
Privacy was a key requirement for the clients too, and responding to that the architects crafted a more opaque, 'quiet' facade towards the street side, which opens up to the garden and swimming pool towards the rear. This openness bring the interior at one with the outdoors effortlessly at any hour of the day, but it can be tempered with floor to ceiling curtains if needed.
This series of simple yet impactful moves defines the pared down, gentle nature of Meadowlark. Colour softens the minimalism inside, with green hues added through different elements throughout the ground level.
At the same time, carefully framed vistas, both through the interiors and out towards the greenery, are what make this the dreamy, but also highly functional countryside retreat that this Sag Harbor house is. 'Pete’s focus was on orienting and reorienting one’s views,' Garnett says. 'It blows everyone’s mind.'
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
It’s big, bold and loud without a battery in sight. Meet the new Bentley Bentayga Speed
We kick up dust in the new V8-powered Bentayga Speed as Bentley brings its luxury SUV challenger to the Big Sky State
-
3 Days of Design 2025: live updates from the Wallpaper* team
From 18-20 June, design is taking over Copenhagen. Here's the latest news, launches and other goings-on from 3 Days of Design, as seen by Wallpaper* editors.
-
A New Zealand house on a rugged beach exemplifies architect Tom Kundig's approach in rich, yet understated luxury
This coastal home, featured in 'Tom Kundig: Complete Houses', a new book launch in the autumn by Monacelli Press, is a perfect example of its author's approach to understated luxury. We spoke to Tom Kundig, the architect behind it
-
A New Zealand house on a rugged beach exemplifies architect Tom Kundig's approach in rich, yet understated luxury
This coastal home, featured in 'Tom Kundig: Complete Houses', a new book launch in the autumn by Monacelli Press, is a perfect example of its author's approach to understated luxury. We spoke to Tom Kundig, the architect behind it
-
Tour architect Paul Schweikher’s house, a Chicago midcentury masterpiece
Now hidden in the Chicago suburbs, architect Paul Schweikher's former home and studio is an understated midcentury masterpiece; we explore it, revisiting a story from the Wallpaper* archives, first published in April 2009
-
The world of Bart Prince, where architecture is born from the inside out
For the Albuquerque architect Bart Prince, function trumps form, and all building starts from the inside out; we revisit a profile from the Wallpaper* archive, first published in April 2009
-
Is embracing nature the key to a more fire-resilient Los Angeles? These landscape architects think so
For some, an executive order issued by California governor Gavin Newsom does little to address the complexities of living within an urban-wildland interface
-
Hop on this Fire Island Pines tour, marking Pride Month and the start of the summer
A Fire Island Pines tour through the work of architecture studio BOND is hosted by The American Institute of Architects New York in celebration of Pride Month; join the fun
-
A Laurel Canyon house shows off its midcentury architecture bones
We step inside a refreshed modernist Laurel Canyon house, the family home of Annie Ritz and Daniel Rabin of And And And Studio
-
A refreshed Rockefeller Wing reopens with a bang at The Met in New York
The Met's Michael C Rockefeller Wing gets a refresh by Kulapat Yantrasast's WHY Architecture, bringing light, air and impact to the galleries devoted to arts from Africa, Oceania and the Ancient Americas
-
A Fire Island house for two sisters reimagines the beach home typology
Coughlin Scheel Architects’ Fire Island house is an exploration of an extended family retreat for the 21st century