The Valerian Rybar/ Jerry Herman/ Pines Club home Est. 1983
235-236 Beach Hill Walk
Architectural Digest 1985
Bigger is always better in Fire Island Pines, and so it goes with the largest house on the largest piece of privately owned property in the Pines. Created by the Yugoslavian man the New York Times called “ the worlds most expensive decorator.” Valerian Rybar together with Jean-Francois Daigre founded the Valerian Rybar & Daigre Design Corporation of New York and Paris where his taste for the opulent and extravagant was his signature.
Valerian Rybar
started his career as a trainee at New York's Lord & Taylor department store, but soon was taken on by Elizabeth Arden to design shop interiors, after Arden saw a headdress he had designed for an opera singer.
On 19 December 1956, Rybar married Aileen Plunket n'ee Guinness, one of the "Guinness Golden Girls". They lived on the 570-acre Luttrellstown Castle estate near Dublin, Ireland, and "set about trying to re-create the thirties" with lavish parties and guests including the Duchess of Windsor. They separated in 1965, as Rybar had become "an extravagance even she could not afford".
Photo by Leonard Nones getty images
Rybar later lived with his long-term partner Jean-Francois Daigre. Daigre died in a Paris hospital in 1992, aged 56, of an AIDS-related illness. Rybar's six-room apartment in Sutton Place, Manhattan was known for its extravagant design in just three colours, coral, brown, and silver. The dining room was lined with 400 fake books, all with titles relating to episodes in his life, and the one entitled International Boredom allegedly alluded to his marriage to Guinness. The walls of the hall and living room were covered in coral velvet, and everything was custom made including a silver-gray mink rug by Oscar de la Renta. The use of mirrors and steel were regarded as part of his "signature" style. Rybar died from prostrate cancer at his home in Sutton Place Manhattan, on 9 June 1990.
The next chapter…
In the 1990’s Broadway composer Jerry Herman came back to the Pines to purchase what would become his third home. His first being at 159 Oak Walk, and second at 227 Bay Walk.
Jerry gave it his usual decorating flair making it his own.
Join the club…
As the millenium arrived and after several owners the home became a guest house of sorts managed by the Share Gurl organization. It became an event space to such events as Pines Party, DRA (Dancers responding to AIDS), and political fundraisers bringing Cher back to the Pines and staying at the club.
2022 began with new ownership and a restore and refresh The Pines Club is now is officially a guest house giving one the luxurious feel of the Pines as it should be.
