At 58 Ocean Avenue in East Hampton Village, the Cyrus L.W. Eidlitz House is frequently overshadowed by the often-imitated neighboring Schuyler Quackenbush House, which Eidlitz (1853-1921) designed for his sister Harriet Eidlitz Quackenbush and her husband.
The genealogy of Cyrus Eidlitz reads like a who's who of New York architectural history -- and his father, Leopold Eidlitz, helped found the American Institute of Architects. Cyrus followed his father into architecture, and he's professionally best known for designing the New York Times Building. For that project, Eidlitz partnered with Andrew McKenzie, an engineer, adding a subway stop in the building. The pair helped establish a tradition of engineers and architects working as peers, which also gave them a niche designing buildings for the telephone company.
Locally, Cyrus Eidlitz helped establish the Maidstone Club. He visited East Hampton as a boarder before buying property in November 1895. In July 1896, he hired the Barnes brothers to build his house, which the Eidlitz family moved into in June 1897. Eidlitz expanded it first with a porch the following year, and then, in 1901, an extension to the second story. It's not entirely clear when the plans seen here were drawn, or if they were intended as drafts while additions were planned, but they were probably made between 1896 and 1901.
The drawings are lacking a scale, oddly positioned, and incomplete -- the main floor is missing, and the plan for the second story is cut off on the right-hand side, removing rooms that remain today. Most likely, the plans were revised or altered drafts, but they are drawn in ink on linen, which is typically for the final stages of architectural drawings. Also noteworthy is the combination of modern amenities, like the bathrooms and a furnace, with delightful details like window seats and a porte cochere.
The house remained in Eidlitz's family after his death in 1921, passing to his daughter, Mrs. Alexander W. Ladd. The Ladd family sold it in 1953 to Col. O.M. Harvey, whose family still owns it.