Fire Island's famous pyramid house is back for $3.3 million
Fire Island's famous pyramid house is back on the market for $3.3 million after prior listings dating to 2022 and subsequent price reductions, including a $4.3 million ask in 2024. The glass-and-steel home, designed by architect Julio Kaufman in 1960, remains one of Fire Island Pines' most recognizable examples of experimental modernism. The property sits on a 31-mile-long barrier island off Long Island's south shore that became a laboratory for architects in the 1960s.
Key Takeaways
- The Pyramid House is listed again at $3.3 million with Compass broker Esteban Gomez.
- Julio Kaufman designed the roughly 2,100-square-foot residence in 1960 for architect John Goodwin.
- Updates by architect Hal Hayes (2003–04) opened the main house into one great room with floor-to-ceiling glass facing the ocean and bay.
- The property includes three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, a guesthouse with pyramid roofs, and a saltwater pool.
- The asking price is down from a $6.5 million list in 2022.
Why is Fire Island's pyramid house famous?
More than 60 years after Buenos Aires–born architect Julio Kaufman designed the distinctive Pyramid House, it remains one of Fire Island Pines' most recognizable examples of the experimental modernism that helped define the summer beach community. Fire Island became something of a laboratory for architects in the 1960s, and Kaufman's pyramid-shaped design is among the most memorable results.
Kaufman designed the roughly 2,100-square-foot house in 1960 for John Goodwin, a fellow architect as well as an arts patron and writer who was the nephew of financier J.P. Morgan. The property occupied a narrow 300-foot-long lot stretching from the bay to the ocean, and Kaufman shaped the house around the views, creating a living room where views extend across the island and the water in multiple directions.
How has the pyramid house changed over the years?
Playwright Paul Rudnick bought the house in 2001 and commissioned architect Hal Hayes to update it, with the project completed in 2003–04. The main house was gutted and opened up into a single living, dining, and kitchen space, while its eastern face was replaced with a floor-to-ceiling glass-and-steel system overlooking the dunes, ocean, and bay.
Hayes also added a guesthouse alongside the pool at the front of the property, creating a private courtyard between the two structures. The guesthouse comprises three adjoining pavilions, each capped with a pyramid-shaped, semi-translucent roof that fills them with light.
In 2018, real estate agent and vintage-modern furniture dealer Glenn Rice bought the property for $1.6 million and furnished it with pieces from his personal collection of 1960s and '70s designs. Recent work includes central air-conditioning, electrical upgrades, a new saltwater pool liner, updated pool equipment, and window film on the enormous panes of glass.
What does the $3.3 million listing include?
Today, the property has three bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms, with the primary suite occupying much of the lower level and including dressing areas, a bathroom, and a private study. Two more bedrooms, plus a bath, are in the guesthouse.
Rice listed the house for $6.5 million in 2022, and it later returned to the market with several price reductions, including a $4.3 million asking price in 2024. Now he is offering it again for $3.3 million with Compass broker Esteban Gomez. For buyers tracking distinctive luxury real estate and dream homes, the relisting underscores how iconic architecture can see significant repricing even in premier coastal markets.
Full listing details and additional photography are available via Robb Report's coverage of the Fire Island residence.