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architecture (13145) bbc (628) modernist (57) fire island (44) fire island modernist (1)
Sixty miles East of New York City lies Fire Island; a narrow wind-swept strip of sandy terrain facing the Atlantic Ocean. This barrier island, with beach dwellings dotting its thick sandy brush, is home to around 300 residents year-round but thousands pour in on summer weekends.
Historically, Fire Island has been a particularly popular designation for gay and lesbian tourists from New York City. In a new book, Fire Island Modernist: Horace Gifford and the Architecture of Seduction, Christopher Rawlins examines this culture and a modernist architect who helped shape it.
The BBC met Christopher Rawlins on Fire Island to find out how the gay community and the homes they lived in reflected a changing culture in 1960s America.