NYC Is Old News for This Surf-Crazy Couple That Moved to Montauk and Built a Beach House

When Kristi Goldrath and her now-husband started dating six years ago, the first trip they took together from their home base in New York City was to Montauk, in Long Island’s East End. There, they rented a beach house, hiked the bluffs, and of course, surfed at Ditch Plains Beach.

Once a low-key fishing hamlet, the area has become something of a surfer’s paradise. The two-mile stretch of beach is known for some of the best waves on the East Coast. They couple liked it there so much that they returned often. Then, when the pandemic arrived and the couple were in need of a break from their "cubbyhole" of an apartment, they decided to rent a beach house from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

That summer turned into more than just a time-out from the city. They fell in love with the beach community and suddenly, it became a test to see if they could live full-time in the Ditch Plains area. Things were going well when a small house on a double lot came up for sale, just a five-minute walk to the beach, and they decided to buy.

Around the same time, a recently completed house in the area caught their eye. "The house was modern, but it didn’t feel out of place in the neighborhood. That’s what we wanted, too," remembers Kristi. They reached out to the firm responsible, Oza Sabbeth Architects, and started thinking about their home in terms of a remodel.

"We quickly realized that it was just much too small," says architect Peter Sabbeth, cofounder of the firm, of the existing 800-square-foot plan. "Adding on wasn’t going to work, because it didn’t have a real basement underneath. So we started looking at this as a piece of land and a blank slate."