In its latest issue, Vanity Fair profiles Thierry Despont with walk-throughs of some of the architect-designer’s numerous high-profile projects, including condos at the Woolworth Building in lower Manhattan, the renovation of the Ritz Paris, and the revamp of the Palm Court at the Plaza Hotel.
Despont tells VF’s James Reginato the 9,000-square foot, five-story Woolworth, expected to list for $110 million, will be the “ultimate penthouse,” and its great room, with 24-foot vaulted ceilings and windows on all sides, “is going to be the most amazing room in New York.”
He has designed homes for Bill and Melinda Gates, Calvin Klein and J.Crew’s Mickey Drexler.
“He knows how rich people live,” one of his clients says.
For the Ritz Paris, he tried to honor the hotel’s existing architecture while keeping it comfortable: “It can’t be like Versailles, where you don’t feel like you can sit down.”
Billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed hired Despont for the project, which includes a new garden, a basement ballroom and new tunnel from the garage for VIP guests.
Despot is also the lead designer on the renovation of the Cartier mansion on Fifth Avenue, and is creating the interiors for Jean Nouvel ’s 82-story condo tower at 53 W. 53rd, next to MoMA.