557 Ocean Walk

Architect: ARTHUR ERICKSON, 1977.
Interior design: FRANCISCO KRIPACZ.
pinesmodern.org/557...

Arthur Erickson, a famous Canadian architect, shared 557 Ocean Walk with his romantic and business partner, the interior designer Francisco Kripacz. Massive wooden piers, angled for shade, structure the home into a nine-square grid. Fences were hinged to lower for completely unimpeded views of the ocean, and vice versa. This home was featured in Architectural Digest in 1979. The high-living couple hosted the likes of Calvin Klein, the von Furstenburgs, and disco royalty. It hails from the late Seventies, a time when residents vied to outdo one another for the most decadent event of the season. Erickson and Kripacz certainly came close in a party at their new home, nicknamed “Lincoln Centre.” At the stroke of midnight, the ceiling retracted and hundreds of silver and gold balloons floated into a starlit sky. It was an era for spectacle. Together with its Horace Gifford-designed neighbor at 556 Ocean Walk, it represents the apogee of Fire Island Pines architecture and culture. Today, it is occupied by public-access television celebrity Robyn Byrd.