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Fire Island Modernist

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By Christopher Rawlins *97

Published April 24, 2025

Through a lens of cultural and architectural history, Fire Island Modernist (Metropolis Books/Gordon de Vries Studio) is a study of the ’60s and ’70s through an overlooked architect, Horace Gifford. During this time, he spearheaded a series of beach houses that ultimately transformed the physical and cultural landscape of New York’s Fire Island. Rawlins reveals how Fire Island became as much a refuge from a hostile world as an escape for icons like Marilyn Monroe and Truman Capote. 

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Terri Sewell ’86 at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, stands next to a portrait of civil rights leader John Lewis.
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