julian & barbara neski
julian neski was born in brooklyn on march 17, 1927. he attended stuyvesant high school and vanderbilt university before enlisting in the navy in 1945. neski’s interest in architecture led him to study at the rensselaer polytechnic institute in troy, new york., where he completed his studies in 1950. while working in the new york office of jose luis sert, julian neski met his future wife and business partner, barbara, with whom he collaborated professionally for over 40 years., they married in 1954 and started to work together in the office of marcel breuer.
in the early sixties, they opened their firm and of the many modernist homes they designed throughout the east coast 25 of them were in the hamptons.
In january 2004 the new york times writer alastair gordon wrote: “all of the houses were relatively inexpensive to build and, unlike the high-maintenance trophy mansions of recent years, easy to maintain. functionalist simplicity was combined with the sculpturally expressive form”
the chalif house in east hampton built in 1964 put the Neskis on the map. its fin-shaped roofs cut sharply against the sky, opening and closing like scissor blades as one approached wrote alastair gordon
later, the neskis undertook projects like the cates house built in 1968 amagansett and the sabel house in bridgehampton, N.Y. (1970). while their work made reference to the modernism of corbusier and breuer, the neski houses were very much products of the 1960s and 70's”
projects
1961 - the armstrong house, montauk
1964 - the chalif house, east hampton
1965 - the neski house, water mill
1966 - the gorman house, amagansett
1970 - the cates house, amagansett
1970 - the sabel house, water mill
1972 - the stephen kaplan house, amagansett
1980 - the bruce kaplan house, sagaponack
1982 - the savage house, amagansett