RENOVATE THE RANCH
One of my favorite project types involves radical transformation or adaptive reuse of an existing structure. I’m currently working on a self-generated project in Sag Harbor, NY, an extensive renovation and addition to a modest one-story ranch house.
Existing front with side addition
Front with side addition demolished
One of my favorite project types involves radical transformation or adaptive reuse of an existing structure. I’m currently working on a self-generated project in Sag Harbor, NY, an extensive renovation and addition to a modest one-story ranch house. I purchased the property about 15 years ago, right next door to our 1895 home, originally for protection and investment. We rented it for many years before deciding to renovate.
Existing rear
Existing rear with non-original addition removed
The ranch had two non-original additions, one at the rear and one at the side. Although nicely located in a neighborhood of mostly two-story gable-roofed vernacular homes, close to the Village and just minutes from Haven’s Beach, the house itself was completely out of context. The original rectangular volume was structurally sound, set on a full basement with a concrete block foundation and a one-car garage beneath the main floor. But the additions were in poor shape: the rear one sat on a minimal foundation, and the side one had none at all.
Existing front roof in demo
Ready for two story add-on
New one story framing in place
We demolished the non-original portions and salvaged the main rectangle. The new design introduces a rear addition with a deeper full basement and a two-story volume extending forward and above the re-framed one-story core.
Front with 2nd story frame
Front with 2nd story frame and roof
Front with porch and membrane
Over the years, through various personal and family projects, I’ve become something of a serial renovator. Ironically, long before this ranch renovation began, I had salvaged a set of extraordinary windows and exterior doors from a high-end townhouse I worked on in Greenwich Village. The windows, custom-made in Honduras Mahogany with insulated glazing by Woodstone in Vermont, were part of the original, traditional scheme for the townhouse, which we later radically redesigned into a modern concept for the same client. While the transformation was compelling (and even took me to Portugal to research large-scale modern windows), I couldn’t bear to see these beautifully crafted originals thrown away.
Reclaimed bay window and door assembly viewed from interior during work-in-progress.
So, I trucked them out to Sag Harbor and stored them in our basement for five or six years, unsure of when or how I’d use them. When it came time to rethink the ranch next door, these reclaimed windows finally found their place. One unit, a massive bay window with integrated flanking doors and fully aligned mullions, proved to be a perfect fit for the rear façade, creating a dramatic indoor/outdoor connection between the dining room and backyard.
Doors installed with bay rough opening
Reclaimed bay window and door exterior view with triple reclaimed window above
Rear facade with reclaimed bay window, completed shingle siding, lead coated copper standing seam roof on the curved bay and reclaimed upper triple window
More blogs to follow on this transformative renovation as we continue to move the project forward. We anticipate completion sometime around October or November of 2025.
Paul Alter – Architect, Owner, Construction Manager for “renovate the ranch project”
View the time lapse video which captures the first 14 weeks of work in 30 seconds
INSPIRED BY JOURNEY
A soulful encounter in the streets of NYC—life-size elephants crafted by indigenous Indian artisans spark a profound reflection on displacement, coexistence, and the power of art to tell real stories.
I heard about the outdoor exhibit “The Great Elephant Migration - From India With Love” showing a herd of life size elephant sculptures set up in the Meatpacking District around 14th Street, 9th Avenue and Hudson Street in NYC. I headed up to see it with my dear friend and long-term SKOLNICK A+DP financial controller, Indira. It was overwhelming and inspirational to see these “elephants” that were made from lantana camara branches, an intensely invasive weed that is quickly spreading to over 300,000 square kilometers of India’s forests, causing animals to flee their natural habitats. The elephants were created by 200 indigenous artisans, known as The Coexistence Collective. These artisans are members of the Bettakurumba, Paniya, Kattunayakan and Soliga communities who see everything in nature as being alive and having a soul.
I immediately felt a kindred spirit with these artisans, empathy for the elephants that were being displaced by the invasive lantana shrubs and impressed by the artistry, skill and soulful infusion brought to bear by these artists in crafting these sculptures.
The ability to infuse, inspire, and embue soul and content is the way of excellent art and craft and something I admire and aspire to in my work. The fact that each of these sculptures was an artistic representaiton of an actual elephant impacted by the invasive shrubs, that the artisans also represented actual families, and that this exhibit would travel the world and be a call for help by the Coexistence Collective combined to be totally remarkable making the overall experience even more touching and impactful.
Amazing inspiration from India brought to light in NYC and traveling the world and what a treat and opportunity to be able to see and experience this phenom ...
Paul S. Alter - Architect, Husband, Father, Sailor, Grandfather, Craftsman, Appreciator
COPPER-CLAD ADDITION WINS AIA LONG ISLAND SMALL PROJECT AWARD
Honored with an ARCHI Award, this copper-clad addition to a 1917 East Hampton estate thoughtfully balances historic preservation with modern function—blending original detailing and contemporary design in a compact, year-round retreat.
A copper-clad addition to a historically significant East Hampton estate was recognized with an ARCHI Award in the Small Projects (Under $300,000) category by AIA Long Island in 2020. The project was honored for its sensitive approach to expanding a 1917 structure originally built as a private theater.
The addition was designed to serve as a year-round sitting and dining space, incorporating modern HVAC while respecting the existing architecture. Rather than replicate the original high-pitched, slate-roofed form, the design introduces a modern flat-roofed structure at the rear of the home. Copper cladding, used in gutters and accents elsewhere on the estate, was chosen to create a distinct but contextually aware exterior.
Interior elements reflect the detailing of the original building, including wood paneling, a timber coffered ceiling, and a long central skylight. Existing bluestone pavers were reused to tie the new open-air terrace into the material palette of the home. Despite the compact scale, the design establishes a strong relationship between old and new—balancing preservation, contrast, and functionality.
The award highlights how small, well-executed interventions can enhance historic properties while introducing modern use and performance.
SENSE OF CRAFT
A lifelong passion for sailing, sparked by stories of solo circumnavigators and shaped by hands-on craft, reveals deep parallels between the design of boats and the art of architecture.
I have always been inspired by boats and the sea and was probably moved in this direction from an early age having read the National Geographic accounting of sixteen year old Robin Lee Graham’s 1965 (5) year solo voyage around the world starting, and Joshua Slocum’s book, Sailing Alone Around the World, in which he recounts being “given” a sloop that turned out to be a wreck in the middle of a farm field that he rebuilt by hand and proceeded to be the first man to solo sail around the world starting in 1895 and running thru to 1898.
The perseverance, skills, intensely independent spirit that each of these people demonstrated just lit a fire in me that still burns brightly today some 55 years after initially learning about these solo sailors in my late teenage years.
My journey led me to lots of sailing, first on Long Island Sound and the Hudson River, then the Caribbean, Bahamas, New England and Maine Coast, Greece, Portugal, Madeira, and ultimately to my home-port waters in and around Sag Harbor.
I was also moved to build a wooden sailboat and did so single-handedly in 1975/76 starting out in a workshop in Port Jefferson and finishing in a small barn in East Setauket, NY. The above picture is me sailing “Morning Glory” on launch day in June of 1976.
At the age of 18, I spent 6 months as crew on the John Alden 72’ length on deck staysail schooner “Golden Eagle” sailing Long Island Sound, and the Hudson River. Ultimately voyaging toward the Caribbean only to encounter an intense storm off Cape Henry Virginia and 25-foot waves that ended in a rescue operation by the Coast Guard and damages to the boat which was purchased by Phinneas Sprague of Portland Maine, who rebuilt the boat and sailed her around the world (unfortunately without me).
The picture above is the former Golden Eagle, renamed Mariah by Phinneas and at anchor in the South Pacific during the Sprague Family circumnavigation.
One might ask about the connection between sailing, the sea, and architecture and there is a strong and significant inter-relationship that begins with the design of a sailboat, the craft of its construction, and the way in which a sailboat harnesses the forces of nature to move through the water. There are numerous parallels to architecture if one considers that the design and construction of buildings accounts for an incredible proportion of man’s consumption of materials, both natural and man-made, with a profound impact on the environment, the atmosphere, our earth and the larger universe.
This is the first blog in a series that relates my passion for sailing, engagement with craft, boats I have owned, voyages I have made and my sense of the relationship between all these things and my work as an architect.
