Early one day in the late summer of 1993, the famously prolific architect Norman Jaffe went for a swim at the beach in Bridgehampton, New York, as he did almost every morning. But on this particular morning, he never returned. With his disappearance, Jaffe left behind many unanswered questions—not only about the cause of his death but also about the nature of his architectural legacy.

Romantic Modernist: The Life and Work of Norman Jaffe, Architect is the first book to explore Jaffe's body of work and the inner struggle that shaped his life. One of the earliest architects to be treated as a sex symbol, Jaffe was, in fact, much more than that. A magnetic, free-spirited individual, he is best known for the strikingly sculptural houses he designed in the Hamptons, which he approached from an almost mystical point of view: with the right proportions and materials, he believed, houses provide a path to self-discovery. Through interviews with Jaffe's closest friends and associates, Alastair Gordon traces Jaffe's career trajectory from his early years on the West Coast through his increasingly celebrated life in New York, giving readers a rare look at the creative process of this seductive, enigmatic architect.