Party Animals Renovate Barn, Party On
A workaholic duo makes room for play at a Nantucket home designed with a serious entertaining agenda in mind.
Following a three-year search, Diane Zuckerman and Michael Hite settled quite nicely into their ideal refuge from Manhattan: a former 1940s cow barn adjacent to a portion of the Nantucket Land Bank and within walking distance of town. “A bunch of hippies had squatted in the barn, and then it was bought and fixed up, sort of, by a guy who loved to entertain,” says Zuckerman. “When we walked in, the karma was amazing. You could tell there had been some good parties.”
Zuckerman, CEO of a New York medical education firm, and Hite, a writer (his Nantucket-set novel, The Last Boat, is due out next month), envisioned a summer-long stream of company, based on their philosophy that everything is better with a few close friends, a little crème fraîche (the couple loves to cook), and a lot of rosé (they go through an average of 24 cases each summer, mostly Domaine Lucien Crochet Sancerre pinot rosé and Château Pradeaux). They adjusted the four-bedroom, 4½-bath space accordingly, knocking down walls between the living and dining rooms to create “more flow for better parties.” They also added a 625-square-foot gourmet chef’s kitchen with a La Cornue stove and Gaggenau in-counter steamer and deep fryer imported from Germany, a caterer’s kitchen, and a second dining area. High-end amenities—like a sound system that can be set to play music at different volumes around the house and a custom-made deer grate at the foot of the driveway to protect the yard from hungry wanderers—modernize the home.
Zuckerman handled the decorating herself, using antiques and flea market finds collected from travels abroad (a 1650 Spanish gate purchased in Saint-Ouen, France, opens onto the vegetable garden), as well as contemporary works by local artists including Ilya Kagan and Sherre Wilson Rae. The only nod to island tradition is the wall of 19th-century baskets, many of which spend time on loan to the Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum. “All our friends are in Nantucket because all we do [in New York] is work,” says Zuckerman. “With two fireplaces, this is a great place to cook and hibernate in the off-season, too. I guess that’s why it’s decorated more like a ‘normal’ house than a beach house.”
Zuckerman, CEO of a New York medical education firm, and Hite, a writer (his Nantucket-set novel, The Last Boat, is due out next month), envisioned a summer-long stream of company, based on their philosophy that everything is better with a few close friends, a little crème fraîche (the couple loves to cook), and a lot of rosé (they go through an average of 24 cases each summer, mostly Domaine Lucien Crochet Sancerre pinot rosé and Château Pradeaux). They adjusted the four-bedroom, 4½-bath space accordingly, knocking down walls between the living and dining rooms to create “more flow for better parties.” They also added a 625-square-foot gourmet chef’s kitchen with a La Cornue stove and Gaggenau in-counter steamer and deep fryer imported from Germany, a caterer’s kitchen, and a second dining area. High-end amenities—like a sound system that can be set to play music at different volumes around the house and a custom-made deer grate at the foot of the driveway to protect the yard from hungry wanderers—modernize the home.
Zuckerman handled the decorating herself, using antiques and flea market finds collected from travels abroad (a 1650 Spanish gate purchased in Saint-Ouen, France, opens onto the vegetable garden), as well as contemporary works by local artists including Ilya Kagan and Sherre Wilson Rae. The only nod to island tradition is the wall of 19th-century baskets, many of which spend time on loan to the Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum. “All our friends are in Nantucket because all we do [in New York] is work,” says Zuckerman. “With two fireplaces, this is a great place to cook and hibernate in the off-season, too. I guess that’s why it’s decorated more like a ‘normal’ house than a beach house.”
Originally published in Boston magazine, July 2007
