East Hampton was the first English settlement in the state of New York. Before it was called East Hampton it was, in fact, known as Maidstone, having been named for the county seat of Kent, England. The name was later changed to Easthampton to mirror the names of its neighbors to the south and west, but in 1885 it was split into two words to coincide with the way the local newspaper, The East Hampton Star, decided to spell it. Who knew the naming of the town was an editorial decision?
Well, the town’s official historian Hugh King, also known as the East Hampton town crier, would. I called King to talk to him about his recollections of the hotel in town called The Maidstone.
“Which one are you talking about?” asked the delightful 80-year-old gentleman. “The inn? That one burned down in the 1930s. Even I’m not old enough to remember that one.”
“No,” I told him. “I’m talking about The Maidstone, the first thing you really see when you drive into town across from Town Pond, the Greek Revival that almost seems painted there, the one with that perfect porch.”
King laughed. “Well, I’m old enough for that one but I’m not rich enough,” he said. “Never had the money it takes to stay there. I did go to the tree-lighting ceremonies that they used to have there at Christmas with all the candles. Then they’d have a dinner and give the proceeds to the food pantry in town. Those were the previous owners. There are new ones now.”
The “new” ones, Jonathan and Jenny Baker, have been the owners since 2008—a Bakers’ dozen of years, come to think of it—when they reimagined the iconic hotel to reflect art collector Jenny’s keen curatorial eye and movie producer Jonathan’s appreciation of mise-en-scène. Jonathan thinks of “the Hamptons as the epitome of the American version of La Dolce Vita,” citing the Fellini film for its title’s translation: The Sweet Life. There is, indeed, a kind of sweet swagger to that film that the Bakers have translated into the tranquil moxie of their hotel, a manifested characteristic of East Hampton itself. Many of the stars attending the Hamptons International Film Festival each year insist on staying at The Maidstone because its old-school, old-shingled Hamptons elegance now elides with the sophisticated serenity that is the result of the updates that the Bakers have put into place.
Before settling in for a visit with the Bakers, let’s circle back to The East Hampton Star for a bit more history of the place from Mayra Scanlon, the East Hampton Library’s archivist for its Long Island Collection. In a column titled “The Maidstone That Remains,” she wrote of the Osborne family history that is so much of the Maidstone’s own. When Thomas Osborne arrived in East Hampton from Connecticut, he bought the property from Robert Bond somewhere between 1650 and 1660. Six subsequent generations of Osbornes ran a tannery business from here. In 1840, William Osborn—who lost an “e” along the way—built the main structure which still stands today. He soon opened the place to lodgers and renamed it Osborn House. Maybe that “e” just didn’t fit on the sign that was the hotel’s first attempt at branding.
William’s son Burnett ran the Osborn House for 32 years. In 1924, the place was taken over by the Hamptons Hotel Corporation and renovations ensued, including that perfect porch. On September 21, 1938, however, the Long Island Express Hurricane that left 150 Montauk fishermen homeless and swept an entire movie theatre out to sea in Westhampton, drowning the projectionist and 20 matinee-goers, severely damaged the hotel. Reconstruction began and bettered the battered place which gave the porch a sturdier appeal to match its aesthetic one. In a town where the first English settled and a hotel can have such a history, even a porch can be generational.
“The hotel changed hands twice more, the owners including, for many years, Rita Reiswig and her husband, the late Gary Reiswig, before being purchased by its current owner, Jenny Ljungberg, in 2008,” Scanlon wrote, winding up her column in The East Hampton Star. “The reopening of the Maidstone featured a new look and feel with Scandinavian influences. Today, the Maidstone features modern amenities such as morning yoga, a restaurant serving Swedish cuisine, and distinct red bikes for guests, which can be seen throughout town.”
The influences mentioned in archivist Scanlon’s column, influences for which The Maidstone is now known since the Bakers became its innkeepers, are described by Jenny as “Scandinavian cozy.” When I first heard the term, I thought of Liv Ullmann in a pair of old slippers wearing a moth-eaten cashmere turtleneck handed down from her mother that she sleeps in and doesn’t take off on Sundays.
“That sounds brilliantly specific!” says Jenny. “Since I’m Swedish, my interpretation of ‘Scandinavian cozy’ is intrinsically linked to my lifelong memories. What I intend with the term is a feeling of perfect visual balance that exudes easy sophistication. I would like our guests to feel comfortably at home at the Maidstone; yet, I want them to live the best version of their lives.”
That led to this question for her husband, who is not only a movie producer, but also the founder of Jonathan Baker Beauty, whose products can be found in The Maidstone’s rooms. Since telling a story is important to him, what story does he want The Maidstone to tell? Or, is it more of a setting for the narratives that others bring to it as his guests?
“I would love to think that sometimes the setting is the main character and The Maidstone is the perfect set to tell love stories,” he says. “From newlyweds to fugitive lovers, from families to friends, our property has been an integral part of people’s memories. What makes me happy is the diverse cast of characters that have walked our halls and stayed in our rooms, and the overall history of the hotel depicts a story of inclusivity and celebration.”
So, whose signatures would be on his fantasy guest register? “Quentin Tarantino, Truman Capote, Bruce Springsteen, Alec Baldwin, Warren Beatty, Jackie Onassis, John F. Kennedy, Tom Cruise, Charlize Theron, Meryl Streep, Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, and Woody Allen.”
Springsteen was the only rock star mentioned. To see more of those, you can visit The Maidstone to see the latest exhibition on its walls which Jenny has curated.
“We are featuring a wonderful exhibition from photographer, festival producer, and artist Roger Sichel, whose prolific creative career documents the ’60s and ’70s music lifestyle of communal living, particularly those heralded during the Woodstock era,” she tells me. “The exhibit includes unforgettable moments captured from that historic period, featuring Joe Walsh, Janis Joplin, PG&E, Paul Butterfield, Johnny Winter, and others, plus photos unique to the events and lifestyle of the generation and the times. All of Sichel’s pieces tell powerful stories captured through his signature eye on the front lines of an era so deeply rooted in rock and roll and that exemplify the lifestyle of tumultuous times that draws several parallels to the modern day.”
The modern-day Maidstone has been curated further since recently becoming a part of the Life House portfolio of boutique hotels, which ties in much of what we have been discussing in its mission statement, describing the properties it virtually runs as “contextual hotels with narrative, substance, and locally-rooted restaurants and bars” which are “artfully designed to bring meaning to life.” The Bakers will remain a creative front-of-the-house presence while “allowing Life House to oversee day-to-day hotel and restaurant operations,” wrote Berkshire Hathaway Business Wire when reporting on the addition of the Maidstone to Life House’s lineup of boutique hotels. I asked Life House’s Founder and CEO, Rami Zeidan, if, in fact, curation were the correct way to consider how he chooses the hotels with which he works, thereby redefining the term “efficient” as “graceful.” He agreed. “For our Life House-branded hotels, we certainly think of it as a curated collection. That said, some hotels don’t need to be rebranded into a Life House as they have their own existing strong brand story, and The Maidstone is certainly that. In that spirit, we are certainly intentional with which hotels we select based on the strength of that story.”
The rooms and cottages themselves are curated at The Maidstone, even narratively so. They each center around a celebrated Scandinavian—among them Finnish architect and designer Eero Saarinen, Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, and Danish author Karen Blixen, who also was known as Isak Dinesen. “Blixen wrote in Out of Africa, ‘God made the world round so we would never be able to see too far down the road,’” I tell Jenny. “What do you see not too far down the road?”
“I see a beautiful world coming back together again,” she says. “We are ready to celebrate togetherness with art, design, good food—and a lot of love.”
