In 2016, Preservation Long Island recognized Mr. Jake Gorst for, Andrew Geller: Deconstructed, a book that captures the life and career of his grandfather, the Modern architect, Andrew Gellar. By exploring Geller’s architectural legacy on Long Island, Gorst approaches the subject of how a young Brooklynite, born to immigrant parents, entered the field of architecture and became known as the “architect of happiness” through his whimsical, modernist beach houses and the “everyman’s” weekend retreat homes of Leisurama. Tinged with personal memory, it is a book that allows readers to understand the aspirational and optimistic context in which Geller was designing, the values possessed by him and his clients, and the historic significance his surviving work provides to understanding the broader Long Island cultural landscape.
