Noted architect Thomas Kligerman celebrates the magic of summer, exploring the seaside setting and design of secluded cottages facing the Atlantic along the Rhode Island coast

Summer by the Sea is the first book to focus on the seaside cottages of Rhode Island, the birthplace of the shingle style, lauded as the ‘architecture of the American summer’. This in-depth tour of seaside communities begins with Watch Hill and moves along the coast, weaving together the history of the state, the evolution of the shingle style, and descriptions of the geology and wildlife that create a unique sense of place.

Each chapter explores a different town – Watch Hill, Weekapaug, Haversham, Block Island, Saunderstown, Jamestown, Middletown, Little Compton – capturing landscape and seascape and studying both historic and contemporary shingle style designs.

Featured are works by 19th century masters Calvert Vaux and Charles L. Bevins, new houses by Jens Risom, Gil Schafer and Peter Bohlin, and vernacular cottages by unknown builders that have descended through generations of the same family. The most recent is Tom Kligerman’s own house in Weekapaug, a gabled, shingled form that he describes as ‘an architectural madeleine for my family,’ evoking the sounds and scents of his own boyhood summers by the sea.

Lush photographs specially taken for the book by Read McKendree capture the spirit of the place – interiors filled with personal histories, generous, inviting porches, and views out over meadows and ponds to the Atlantic beyond. Tom Kligerman’s own photographs of beaches, harbours, and houses- views taken while biking along narrow roads and sandy paths – complete the portrait of this special summer world.

Edition: 2026