Frank House designed by Andrew Geller in 1961

The Frank House is on its third generation of fame now… designed by architect Andrew Geller in Fire Island Pines in 1958, Geller was inspired by the Franks’ pictures of the Mayan Ruins for this glazed pyramid, set among the rolling sand dunes of Long Island. The result is a small house with huge views of the Atlantic and the bay. Philip Monaghan, an ex-fashion marketing executive (and my ex-boyfriend) restored the house, which up until putting it on the market recently, he used as a second home:

“I always feel like I’m intoxicated when I’m there.”

Boys in the Sand, an “artistic” soft-core porn video directed Wakefield Poole in 1971, was shot in the Frank house. It’s considered a groundbreaking American cinematic work and was the first porn film that was an economic and critical success winning raves from Variety and The New York Times. Even today, it is considered the film that started the trend of successful porn films, a year before Deep Throat was released. Produced with a tiny budget of $8000 it is three episodes starring Casey Donovan and his sexual exploits on the island of fire. It is truly one of the great small gems of a house on the island. It has two bedrooms and two baths in the house and there’s a guest room that has its own entrance off the pool that you can easily rent out. (I’ve stayed there, it’s like a mini boutique hotel room.) Believe me, if you saw it in person and had the dough, you’d be signing a contract today. The house and all this history, now beautifully restored, can be yours for $1,475,000. For more info you can go here…. for once, the tag “real estate porn” takes on an extra layer of meaning.

Casey Donovan, star of Boys in the Sand, in the Frank House, circa 1970