Cheap house, expensive trip: Iconic New Jersey beach house on way to Long Island

Workers moved a beach house onto a barge yesterday in Barnegat Light, N.J., as they prepared it for the long trip. (mel evans/Associated Press)

BARNEGAT LIGHT, N.J. - Sure, housing prices are falling. But how's this for a bargain for a Long Island, N.Y., couple: An iconic beach house, designed by a world famous architect, for $1.

The catch? They have to pay at least $100,000 to move it on a barge from the Jersey shore to their home.

But that's just fine with Robert Gotkin and Deborah Sarnoff, who run a husband-and-wife dermatology and plastic surgery practice in New York. They already live in one house designed by architect Robert Venturi, and plan to use the newest addition as a guest cottage.

The house set sail from a marina in Barnegat Light, on Long Beach Island, just before 8 p.m. yesterday and is expected to arrive in Glen Cove, N.Y., today after a 95-mile waterborne trip.

"We're really excited about this," said Sarnoff, who began researching Venturi and his work after she and her husband moved into a boat-shaped Venturi home on Long Island.

The house Venturi built in Barnegat Light in 1967 is best known for the huge number 9 on its front, and the sailboat-shaped window on one side.

But new owners recently bought the land it sat on, and planned to tear it down to make way for something newer and bigger.