2 Long Island homes whose famous owners created historic art, literature, nominated for State, National Register of Historic Places

Two Long Island houses are among a group of 20 New York properties that have been nominated for the State and National Registers of Historic Places.

John Steinbeck’s writing cottage in Sag Harbor and the High House & Studio in Peconic are being considered for the registers as part of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation efforts “to expand and diversify our state’s listings on the registers of historic places so that our communities know that New York recognizes the importance of documenting our whole history,” commissioner pro tempore Randy Simons said in a news release.

A state and national register listing can help the owners revitalize their properties, potentially making them eligible for public preservation programs and services. This includes matching state grants and, according to the state Parks Department website, a 20% federal income tax credit “for the costs of substantial rehabilitation.”

Nominations are made by the New York State Board for Historic Preservation.

House for a Nobel Prize winner

Kathryn Szoka, vice president of the Steinbeck House Advisory Board, was one of the driving forces behind applying to be on the registers for the Steinbeck House. She noted Steinbeck was living in Sag Harbor when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1962.

While authors are awarded the Nobel Prize for an entire body of work, as opposed to a single book, Szoka said that the Nobel Committee acknowledged that Steinbeck’s "The Winter of Our Discontent," which he wrote in Sag Harbor, was “a primary reason” for the award “because he retained his ability to describe the American character for better or worse in that book.”

“And that book, if you read it and you know Sag Harbor, you will see echoes of the village in the landscape that he describes and in the people that are in the book there,” Szoka said.

Currently, The University of Texas’ Michener Center for Writers leases the property for use as a writers' residency program. The house also hosts a writing workshop for high school students.

The inside of the Steinbeck house will be open to visitors during Labor Day weekend, though the grounds are open for visit on some Saturdays in the summer.

“To preserve his home really preserves a part of our soul in a way. As things change rapidly, there is always going to be the Steinbeck home for people to come and visit,” Szoka said.

Studio for leading figures of Peconic Art Colony

While Wendy Prellwitz owns The High House & Studio with her two daughters and brother, she sees herself as “the steward” of the house.

She is also the great-granddaughter of Henry Prellwitz and Edith Mitchill Prellwitz, two influential impressionist, figurative and landscape artists who were leading figures in the Peconic Art Colony and the home's first owners.

An artist herself, she described how she often lumped her great-grandparents together, but in reality, they were “their own distinct individuals” that “had different roles in the art world.”

“Without having this moniker, [Edith Mitchill Prellwitz] really was a feminist who really felt constrained by the art world as a woman painter,” she said, describing how Edith’s ambition drove her to help found the Women's Art Club of New York, which today is the National Association of Women Artists.

While Edith Mitchill Prellwitz came from a well-off family, Henry Prellwitz was the son of Prussian immigrants who lived on the Lower East Side, with his father running a cigar store.

Wendy Prellwitz described him as a “bon vivant” who “made tons of friends in New York and really embedded himself in the art community of that time.” He also eventually became the president of the Art Students League of New York, where he had studied.

The couple bought the “High House,” a Dutch Colonial house that was built by carriage painter Joshua Wells and located in Aquebogue, and had it moved to Peconic, where they also had their studios built.

Richard Wines, a Jamesport historian involved in applying the High House to the register, said of the art colony: “It’s [important] that this group of people got together…they connected new, other famous artists all around the country, and of course what they documented was a particular place and time, a particular style of art.”

Wendy Prellwitz teaches workshops in her great-grandparents’ studios.