CONCRETE PLANS

In a historic Black community in Sag Harbor, Delia Kenza builds on her family's legacy to create a personal retreat filled with meaning and her own modern style.

- By CAMILLE OKHIO

Delia Kenza, the New York–based lawyer turned interior designer, started going to Sag Harbor as a child. Her aunt was one of a small group of Black homeowners from New York City who built bungalows in Ninevah Beach, an enclave developed by two sisters in the 1950s. Kenza has spent weekends and summers there since she was nine years old. Now, with the help of local architect Anne Sherry, she has built a new home on the property, which Kenza shares with her husband and their daughters. The project, the first she has designed from the ground up, reflects her and her family’s priorities—exploration, enjoyment, and ease, as well as the designer’s longtime appreciation for African modernism. The quiet concrete masterpiece is much like its owner: exceptionally calm, extremely cool, and expertly collected.

CAMILLE OKHIO: What is your personal history with this property in Sag Harbor?

DELIA KENZA: The women in my family have always been about real estate. My grandmother instilled that. My aunt had a summer house on this small plot of land, and I would come visit. At the time, no matter how successful you were, Black people could not buy homes or live wherever they wanted. This area was developed by two sisters so that Black people could own vacation houses near the water. The air is different here. It is quiet. There is a peacefulness to it. I can see the stars. My cell doesn’t work so well here, and I’m okay with that.

Kenza in the stairwell, with its custom perforated metal staircase. The side table is by Christopher Merchant. OPPOSITE: The concrete. exterior of interior designer Delia Kenza's home in Sag Harbor, which she designed with architect Anne Sherry. The landscape design is by Broadview Gardens East Hampton.