GEM OF A MAKEOVER An extensive renovation sees the Cartier mansion and store on New York’s Fifth Avenue reclaim its sparkle.
An extensive renovation by esteemed architect Thierry Despont sees the Cartier mansion and store on Fifth Avenue reclaim its sparkle.
“I WANTED THE CARTIER MANSION TO GET BACK TO THIS NOTION OF THE HOUSE”
In New York, you can eat at Buvette or Claudette, Bistro Les Amis or Deux Amis, Le Midi or Cherche Midi. French bistro Balthazar is the go-to for the fashion flock, while uptown Per Se is for the country’s moguls. French-born architect Thierry Despont was always going to be well received here – having worked with many of the types of tycoons who eat in these establishments, redesigning their private homes and refurbishing commercial premises like Cartier’s Fifth Avenue store. “I was fortunate to restore the Statue of Liberty some 25 years ago. Having done that, people thought, you know: ‘He can do my kitchen!’” he says with a laugh, downplaying his oeuvre of spectacular private homes: Oscar and Annette de la Renta, Bill Gates, Calvin Klein and Mickey Drexler, and the renovation of international hotels like the Ritz Paris and Claridge’s in London.
“I love doing a house, and a house is always about dreams and memories. I wanted the Cartier mansion to get back to this notion of the house,” says Despont of his work on the jeweller’s premises, a converted mansion and townhouse. He’s sitting on an upholstered cream chaise in an enclave off the Grace Kelly Salon, named so because of the famous Cartier engagement ring given to her by Prince Rainier III. It’s the engagement ring room, filled with rows upon rows of diamond rings – all the better to match the crystal chandeliers overhead. Raised in France, Despont has lived in New York for more than three decades, “so the French-US connection fits”.
The Cartier mansion was once the home of financier Morton F. Plant, who, in a tale too good to make up, ended up selling the six-storey residence for a necklace of 128 natural pearls from Pierre Cartier. Plant’s wife, Maisie, had her eye on the exquisite piece, which in 1917 would have taken years to create. Each room is titled according to chapters in Cartier’s history. There’s the Elizabeth Taylor Salon, named after the famed jewellery lover and Cartier client, which is filled with exuberant pieces that the star would have eyed off herself. Throughout the home are more than 100 pieces of antiques selected by Despont from Cartier’s archives and beyond. “But, at the same time, it’s a store for the next century, so it’s about technology,” he explains. “Everything is now on computer and the lighting is state of the art.”
With a European charm, he’s a skilled conversationalist, filled with anecdotes and historical explanations. “[Late American architect] Philip Johnson used to say: ‘You cannot not know history if you want to be a good architect,’” he tells me.
From the past, he delights in talking about “the most magnificent chateau” Vaux-le-Vicomte in France and comparing it to Versailles, and of renowned Italian-born architect Andrea Palladio, who looked to ancient Greco-Roman architecture, translating the past into wellproportioned, ingenious villas for the gentry of the 16th century. “What was so brilliant about him was that he believed you needed a big house to show off, but you didn’t need a big house – you needed a house with a living room and a bedroom or two, but the rest, we’re going to pretend,” he says. “We’re going to put the cows and the donkeys on the wings to make it look bigger. Palladio was brilliant at taking the architectural vocabulary and, with a very modern spirit, moving it up into the 16th century.”
An accomplished painter, Despont’s art informs his architecture. He creates a universe in his designs for his detailed-oriented approach to furnishings and interiors, but he literally paints universes in his own art. “For a long time, I thought I needed to make excuses,” he says of his multiple passions. “But up until the 19th century, if you’d met an architect who didn’t paint, you would’ve thought he must be a really bad architect. Now, I’m an architect, I’m a designer and I’m an artist.”
Like Palladio, Despont interprets the desires of his mogul clients, overseeing not just the architecture but also the interiors, advising on the lighting and the gardens. “We
“THIS IS WHERE A YOUNG WOMAN IN LOVE IS GOING TO BUY A DIAMOND RING”
designed the tables and chairs, but the notion was to put it all together so that everything fits into the architecture, so we can create the room and the personality,” he explains. While we may not be privy to the homes of Drexler, de la Renta, Gates or others, we can still imagine the salubrious atmosphere of their estates by taking a turn in Cartier’s mansion. The architectural style of Despont’s work is purposely not discernible, except for its classicism and harmonious proportions. “I’m not interested in having a style,” he says. “I truly believe the responsibility of the architect is to listen and interpret the program of the client. I always say you play your best tennis when your partner is good and knows how to play, because they push you, you push them, and your games get better. That’s exactly what happened with Cartier, and I had to do my best to rise to the challenge.”
With a building of this age – it was designed in 1904 – there were challenges. The Cartier mansion was made up of a main building and a townhouse at the rear with each floor at different heights, which created a confusing retail layout. Each floor had to be painstakingly levelled out during the renovation.
And lighting in the store was another obstacle, with architecture heeding to it just as much as the presence or negation of space. “Sun King” Louis XIV had his bedroom in Versailles lie east-west to face the rising sun, but Despont in 2016 has more pertinent and less esoteric problems with light. “As an architect or designer, you always want to have warm light,” he explains. “If you’re going to sell diamonds, you want white light, because it’s important to see the colour of the diamond to make it sparkle with true light. So it was a balancing act.” He looks out to his work in the Grace Kelly Salon, filled with people gawking at diamonds, admiring photos of her on the wall wearing Cartier jewels. “In this beautiful room, it’s hard to think you’re going to have an argument,” he says, chuckling. “This is where a young woman in love is going to come with her fiancé to buy a diamond ring, and she’ll be saying: ‘This is it, this is it!’” No need to be a mogul – here, a girl can feel at home, pick a diamond, find the one.”