The Lady Of The House

Behind an ivy hedgerow, English gardens and a sign that seems to belong to another century, Antonella Bertello has built a modern hospitality story out of one of the Hamptons’ oldest addresses on Main Street in East Hampton.

The Baker House 1650 is not the kind of hotel that announces itself with spectacle. Its power is quieter: Cotswold-inspired architecture, antique character, fireplaces, breakfast overlooking the courtyard, a private spa and the feeling that guests have stepped into a living house rather than checked into a lodging product. For Bertello, its owner and steward, that distinction matters. She is not simply preserving a historic property. She is curating how the Hamptons feels when the crowds disappear, the gates open and East Hampton returns to scale.

The house’s story predates the country by more than a century. First constructed in 1648 by sea captain Daniel Howe and sold two years later to Thomas Baker, one of East Hampton’s original founders, the building became Baker’s Tavern, a town meeting place, community center and early site of religious services. As America approaches its 250th birthday, the Baker House name marks 375 years in 2025, a reminder that American hospitality began long before hotel brands, lifestyle concepts and influencer itineraries.

Bertello’s gift has been to understand that history alone is not enough. A property this old can easily become precious or museum-like. Instead, The Baker House 1650 has become intimate, polished and deeply usable. The rooms retain individuality and period romance, while the experience is contemporary: fireside winter escapes, garden cocktails, private gatherings, wellness retreats, artful events and a spa with a counter-current pool, sauna, steam shower, soaking tub and changing room. Guests can enjoy East Hampton as a village, not just a summer scene.

That approach reflects Bertello herself. A real estate entrepreneur with a sharp eye for property, design and location, she brings both business discipline and personal warmth to the inn. She has spoken publicly about serenity, service, cars, community and the meticulous details that make guests feel cared for rather than processed. In East Hampton, where luxury can sometimes feel performed, Bertello’s version is more personal: know the guest, respect the house, create the moment and never let grandeur become stiff.

Her stewardship has also turned the inn into a social and cultural address. Recent seasons have brought sunset aperitivos, afternoon teas, culinary evenings, creative workshops, intimate dinners and partnerships that connect The Baker House 1650 to the wider East End. During fall, the inn becomes a base for film, art, philanthropy and village life. In winter, it becomes a place of firelight, spa time and privacy.

That year-round vision is central to Bertello’s success. The Hamptons can still be treated as a seasonal marketplace, but The Baker House 1650 argues for something richer. East Hampton has quiet mornings, cultural calendars, coastal walks, gallery afternoons and cozy evenings long after summer’s last party. By programming the property and positioning it as a retreat for every season, Bertello has helped redefine what a luxury Hamptons stay can be.

The industry has noticed. The Baker House 1650 was named Best House, Villa or Serviced Apartment in North America by Condé Nast Johansens at the 2026 Awards for Excellence, a global recognition for independent luxury hospitality. For Bertello and her team, the honor validated years of work balancing heritage with service, atmosphere with amenities and East Hampton tradition with modern expectations.

Yet awards only tell part of the story. The real measure of The Baker House 1650 is emotional. Guests remember breakfast. They remember the gardens. They remember the sense of privacy, the indoor pool, the ivy, the fireplaces and the feeling that the property has a pulse. They remember that a historic inn can still feel alive.

That balance may be why the inn photographs beautifully yet lives even better in person. It is aspirational without losing its human scale, historic without becoming dusty, and luxurious without shouting. In Bertello’s hands, hospitality becomes less about display than memory — the art of making guests feel, briefly, that they belong to the house and the village, too.

That is Bertello’s recipe for success as a hotelier: treat the building as an heirloom, but never as a relic. Keep the experience elegant, but never impersonal. Invite the world in, but make it feel like a secret.

In 2026, as the nation looks back 250 years, The Baker House 1650 offers a more intimate anniversary lesson. American history is not only found in battlefields, capitals and monuments. Sometimes it sits on Main Street, serving breakfast, lighting fires, hosting neighbors and welcoming travelers under a centuries-old roof.

Under Antonella Bertello, The Baker House 1650 has become more than a historic Hamptons inn. It is a study in stewardship, a lesson in adaptive luxury and a love letter to East Hampton itself.

Bertello’s vision for The Baker House 1650 does not stop at the guest room door. Increasingly, the historic inn has become a gathering place for the cultural, culinary and social experiences that define the East End beyond the height of summer. From garden receptions and intimate dinners to wellness offerings and seasonal partnerships, The Baker House 1650 continues to position itself as both a private retreat and a social address — a place where heritage is not only preserved, but activated.

The Baker House 1650 extends its world of hospitality through polo, garden receptions and East End experiences.

That broader vision comes into focus through The Baker House 1650’s partnership with Hamptons Polo House, a collaboration that brings together two Hamptons names rooted in tradition, elegance and a particular understanding of summer on the East End.

The pairing is a natural one. The Baker House 1650, with its 17th-century Cotswold-inspired architecture and deeply personal approach to boutique hospitality, has long offered guests a refined East Hampton base. Hamptons Polo House brings the energy of equestrian sport, outdoor gatherings and polo-season sociability. Together, the two create a bridge between historic innkeeping and the polished leisure culture that continues to shape the Hamptons.

The collaboration is designed around curated experiences that blend refined hospitality with the excitement of the polo season. Guests of The Baker House will have access to select polo matches, private viewing opportunities and bespoke social events hosted at Hamptons Polo House. Members and guests of Hamptons Polo House, in turn, will be introduced to the inn’s accommodations, private gatherings and wellness offerings.

The partnership also brings the experience back to East Hampton, with invitation-only sunset receptions planned in the gardens of The Baker House 1650. Presented with Hamptons Polo House and PAZ Lifestyle, the receptions are intended to celebrate the polo lifestyle in the intimate setting of the hotel property, pairing garden-party atmosphere with the sophistication of the season.

For Bertello, the collaboration is an extension of the values that have guided her work at The Baker House. “This partnership represents a natural alignment of values,” she said. “Both properties are dedicated to preserving the timeless charm of the Hamptons while offering elevated, memorable experiences to our guests.”

That emphasis on memory matters. The strongest luxury experiences are rarely only about the room, the match, the dinner or the view. They are about access, setting and rhythm — the sense that a guest has stepped briefly into a world that feels both exclusive and authentic. At The Baker House 1650, that world begins with history and hospitality. Through the polo partnership, it extends outward into the wider social language of the East End.

Throughout the summer season, the collaboration is expected to include signature events such as sunset receptions, VIP match-day experiences and intimate dinners celebrating local culture, cuisine and community. It reflects a larger movement in boutique hospitality: the most memorable properties are no longer only places to stay. They are curators of place.

Hamptons Polo House CEO Facundo Rawson described the partnership as a way to capture the spirit of the Hamptons. “Together, we are creating something truly special that captures the spirit of the Hamptons — sophisticated, social, and deeply rooted in tradition,” he said.

For The Baker House 1650, the collaboration underscores what Bertello has been building all along. The inn is historic, but not static. It is private, but connected. It is elegant, but alive with programming, partnerships and a sense of occasion. Whether guests come for a quiet weekend, a wellness retreat, a garden reception or a polo-season experience, the invitation is the same: enter through the gate, slow down and discover East Hampton at a more intimate scale.

In that sense, the Hamptons Polo House partnership is less a departure than a continuation. It is another expression of The Baker House 1650’s central promise: to honor the past while creating new reasons to gather, celebrate and remember the season.

For more information about The Baker House 1650, please visit bakerhouse1650.com

For more information about Hamptons Polo House, please visit hamptonspolohouse.com

Photo credits: Hamptons Polo House