The Low-Maintenance Beach House

When a young Manhattan family bought property on the New Jersey shore, they turned to Carl D'Aquino and Francine Monaco -- the designing partners who did the clients' city apartment -- for a wide-open home with a sense of beach history.

Written by Fred A. Bernstein • Photographed by Peter Murdock
Produced By Susan Tyree Victoria

"Nothing was left to chance," says designer Carl D'Aquino of the house on the Jersey shore that he created with his partner, architect Francine Monaco. As soon as Monaco starts planning a room, D'Aquino begins thinking about how it can be furnished. Each works to enhance the other's contribution to the building. "The project is not about how we distinguish the two disciplines," say Monaco, "but how they come together."

But this house was more than a two-way collaboration. The owners, Greg and Jennifer Geiling, reviewed countless renderings and models and even tried out full-size mock-ups of key features. "We're very detail-oriented," says Jennifer, the mother of three small children and the founder of a nonprofit that helps create social opportunities for developmentally delayed adults.

Greg, who works in finance, summered near here and had the idea to buy a weekend house after the couple became parents; Jennifer, who spent a lot of time at the beach while growing up in California, was enthusiastic. And while they pictured a rambling, shingle-style house, the site they found was narrow (about 50 feet along the street, 65 feet on the bay); the house would have to be a long rectangle with the best views at one end.

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