WHILE CALIFORNIA DESIGNER (and former Jersey boy) Joe Lucas was designing his sister’s home in Mantoloking, New Jersey, he had a running joke with his family, who held firm ideas on what a beach house should look like. “I just kept going, ‘Okay, it’s not a theme park; it’s your house,’ ” he says of their stereotypical choices. “They love anything nautical.”
But before he could enact any aesthetic changes, he had to ensure the bayfront property could withstand the now-regular tidal flooding. Working with Daniel Lynch of B.L.D.G. Architecture, Lucas raised the main house an entire level and created a new ground level below, with a screened-in porch, mudroom, powder room, and garage. He also added a loggia with outdoor entertaining spaces that can take on water.
Now hoisted,…
