Four Fountains House

The Four Fountains House, also known as the Tyng Playhouse was designed by well-known architect Archibald Brown for Ethel and Lucian Tyng as a playhouse and cultural center. Their main residence was across the road. The building, which boasted a soaring, arched main room measuring 40 feet square, was intended to be part of a larger compound that was completed in 1928.  The original Four Fountains property comprised an apartment garage, guest house, and gardener’s cottage on 7.5 acres located between Southampton Art Village and the Atlantic Ocean. Most of these components were arranged around a square, flagstone-paved forecourt whose four corners were each anchored by a fountain. 

In 1942, the Tyngs sold Four Fountains to Archibald Brown. Brown’s wife, Eleanor, the founder of the interior design firm McMillen Inc., converted the playhouse into a summer home over the course of a year. In 1978, television executive William S. Paley purchased the property.  Several years after Paley’s 1990 death, the investor Bruce Bockmann and his wife, Maria, acquired the property. Both owners undertook additions and renovations to the compound. In later years, Australian designer Paul Bangay oversaw stewardship and redesign of the landscape.

The main house was torn down in 2020 as it was deemed untenable due to a combination of flood risk and regulatory constraints.

 

Source:

Sokol, D. (2020, January 15). The Historic Four Fountains Home in Southampton has been Demolished. Architectural Digest. https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/the-historic-four-fountains-home-in-southampton-has-been-demolished