Auctions are rare in the Hamptons like this home, designed as a live/work studio and residence by the late Japanese sculptor Setsuo Ito.
Built in 1993 and recently renovated, the 12,000-square-foot sprawl — topped by an open steel pyramid — occupies the highest elevation on the East End, a few miles north of Water Mill.
it is going up for auction 24 to 30 January with a reserve price of $2.95 million – well below its last asking price of $7.99 million.
The six bedroom home sits on 9 acres of land with built in rooms. It is being sold in auction along with an additional 6 acres of land. Sotheby’s listing broker Angela Boyer-Stump said the current owner bought it at an auction, spent more than $1 million on renovations, bought adjacent lots — and is now selling them at 984 and 984a Noyak Path.
A private 2-mile-long driveway leads to the home through a white pine forest overlooking a 300-acre preserve, which features an unusually shaped pool, a 32-foot-high pyramid, and a deck.
The home has a foyer, a living room, a gallery, a dining atrium—as well as a chef’s kitchen with white glass floors, custom cabinetry, and an open gas fireplace. There is also a gym and a media room. In 1994, the late rapper Notorious B.I.G. was here too shot music video for their hit single “Juicy”. But despite its hip-hop fame, it has spent recent years on and off the market without finding a buyer.
In 1994, in an interview with the New York Times, Ito said that he once climbed to the top of a hill to watch the sunset and liked the location so much—it was also perfect for watching the moonrise—that he decided to build his dream project. Bought 15 acres of land to build a house. That was back in 1984.
The artist named the house Camp Benno for his pet collie, who reportedly died two days before construction began. “We need a home for shelter and rest,” he told the times, “But I come to the Hamptons to enjoy the countryside. That’s why I designed a home that will push you back outside.”
The structure took 10 years to build, as the Southampton planning board kept turning down his plans – so he spent the first few summers camping on the hill. “The final design was a combination of aesthetic and political considerations,” he told the Times. “The pyramid, pool, and master suite are all 40-by-40-foot perfect squares aligned along a north-south axis.”
As for the pyramid, he said: “Structurally, it’s the most robust shape. That’s why it’s on top of a hill. But when you surround a pyramid it’s not that interesting to me. It becomes cliché.” So I left it open.