Patch reports a worker at Larry Gagosian’s East End house–built for Francois de Menil by Charles Gwathmey–caused a fire that damaged three rooms and rendered the house uninhabitable for the time beaing:
Amagansett Fire Department Chief Mark Bennett said a caretaker, who was at the house, even ran out of the house at 424 Further Lane with two paintings for safe keeping.
The fire started when a plumber was soldering pipe behind a refrigerator on Tuesday evening, Bennett and East Hampton Town Chief Fire Marshal David Browne said on Wednesday morning. Browne said there was ongoing work being done on the estate, on one of the most exclusive blocks in the Hamptons. […] A worker inside the house called 911 at 8:50 p.m., according to East Hampton Town police.
“He dumped two or three fire extinguishers on it trying to put it out,” Browne said.
The house was filled with smoke, the fire chief said. Flames were in the walls, between the first and second floors, he said, adding that volunteer firefighters had to cut holes in the ceiling and on the second floor where there was a foot and a half gap.
His department did a good job of knocking down the fire quickly and containing the damage to just three rooms in the house, which include a home theater.
“We got there pretty quickly, so we got a stop on it,” he said. “But there’s smoke damage and some water damage,” he said, adding, though, that they were careful about using tarps to protect what they could. A tarp saved a flat-screen television — the biggest Bennett said he’s ever seen.
However, he wasn’t sure about other artwork.
Fire Damages Art Dealer’s Amagansett House (Patch.com)
