Style standout Peter Marino will open a home for his eponymous foundation on tony Jobs Lane in Southampton this summer. Housing his extensive collection, and working in tandem with the Southampton Arts Center (SAC) next door, the Peter Marino Art Foundation will offer cultural programming throughout the year.
The New York-based architect, who has designed flagships for Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Dior and has built award-winning global residences and hotels, purchased the former Rogers Memorial Library in 2018 for a reported $5.25 million. The highly visible spot fits the flamboyant architect. For more than a hundred years, the Rogers mansion served as the public library before relocating in 2000. It sat relatively dormant (save for a short stint as retailer One Kings Lane) until Marino came along.
Delayed by COVID-19 (last year’s gala fund-raiser was scaled way back), the conversion has finally found its footing. With extensive construction underway, the historic Victorian Gothic building, designed by R.H. Robertson in 1895, is all the buzz among passersby.
Marino’s provocative sensibilities and the rather traditional village of Southampton might seem an odd pairing, but the foundation has support from local Mayor Jesse Warren, as well as encouragement from a large majority of the residents and nearby cultural institutions.
And while one knows to always expect the unexpected with Marino, it’s safe to say visitors will enjoy works by Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Richard Prince, Robert Mapplethorpe, as well as Renaissance and baroque bronzes. Many got a glimpse of what’s to come at “Counterpoint: Selections From the Peter Marino Collection,” held three years ago at SAC. Marino made the announcement of his Jobs Lane purchase at the opening night reception.
Never one to be confined by four walls, Marino is also redoing the grounds of both the foundation and the neighboring arts center, paying homage to legendary landscape architect Warren Manning, who designed the arboretum in the late 1890s. The gardens may draw inspiration from Marino’s own much-admired ones at his Southampton home — the subject of “The Garden of Peter Marino” (Rizzoli, 2017), a tome showcasing his flair for color and drama with thousands of azaleas, hydrangeas and roses cultivated over two decades. Commissioned sculptures by the late renowned husband-and-wife team François-Xavier and Claude Lalanne include a whimsical frog fountain and “Grand Moutons de Peter,” a set of bronze sheep.
The golden livestock were a big hit of “Counterpoint.” But a sheep seems like a contradictory symbol. Marino has never been one to follow the flock.