Southampton

The integrity of one of the Southampton summer colony’s oldest houses may be in danger. This is the 1887 Queen Anne cottage known as “Ingleside,” (or “Firenze”) and is located at 5 Fairlea Lane. The owner has proposed remodeling the front façade in a most devastating manner. The proposed alteration would not only seriously impact the house, but would impact the integrity of the whole enclave of Fairlea cottages, which are known as the Nelson cottages. “The five Queen Anne-style Nelson Cottages on Fairlea Lane are important in that they give this Southampton Village National Register District its cohesive late-nineteenth century visual character,” states the National Register Nomination Form prepared in August, 1988. To allow this alteration would create an alarming precedent striking at the heart of what is worth preserving in Southampton.