Queen’s nephew lines up success
David Linley’s famed millwork graces $16M suite in N.Y.C.’s Pierre hotel,
As a teenager he crafted a beautiful box with mitred dovetail joints that he gave to his grandmother. She said, “Oh, it’s lovely, darling. Did you make that?”
Later, she hosted a lunch at which his handiwork, filled with cigars and Turkish cigarettes, was circulated among the guests.
“I just thought it was such a lovely thing she did,” her grandson recalled in an interview with “Vanity Fair” in 2017. “She was actually not offering people cigars. She was showing my work in a very subtle way.”
The young chap was David Armstrong-Jones, Queen Elizabeth’s nephew and a favourite grandchild of the Queen Mother, who died in 2002 at age 101. He went on to become an exceptional furniture maker and designer.
Known professionally as David Linley (formally as Viscount Linley), the now 59-year-old Royal Family member showcased his talent on this side of the Atlantic in a $16-million (U.S.) apartment in the legendary Pierre hotel in Manhattan.
Considered “one of the finest millworkers in the U.K.,” Linley joined forces with renowned London-based interior designer Anouska Hempel to create a “one-of-a-kind, timeless yet dramatic residence,” according to listing agent Erin Boisson Aries.
His intricate, custom-designed millwork is seen throughout the renovated 27th-floor residence, in the parquet floors, bookshelves, panelling, cabinetry and crown moulding, said Aries, of Christie’s International Real Estate Group in New York.
Linley, the son of the late Princess Margaret and photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, founded his bespoke furniture and design company called Linley in 1985, and counts Elton John among his clients.
Linley’s online shop sells everything from a $2,200 nutcracker to a $23,000 purple eucalyptus jewelry box.
That same level of luxury is evident in The Pierre co-op apartment where Linley’s “meticulous attention to detail (combines) with masterful marquetry” in woods such as mahogany, burr walnut and ebony with brass nickel trim, Aries said.
The polished black woodwork is complemented by Hempel’s own trademark black furnish
ings, accents and finishes. She amps up the opulence with additional detailing such as ebony pearl buttons on the furniture, “sewn with bits of silver thread layered in,” said Aries, adding the result is “a tapestry of texture and sophisticated elegance.”
Particularly striking is the primary suite where bold, blackand-white bands line the walls, canopy beds and carpet.
A renovated art deco marble ensuite bathroom continues the theme.
Hempel, a former actress in the 1960s and ’70s, also curated the artwork, some of which appears in the gallery connecting the suite’s bedroom wing to the principal rooms.
The elegantly decorated living room overlooks Central Park while the “perfectly proportioned” adjoining dining room leads to a large kitchen and private home office.
Natural light flows into every room through oversized windows in the corner unit, one of just two private apartments on the tower floor.
“There are approximately 70 residences at The Pierre, but apartments of this size, scale and dramatic views directly overlooking Central Park rarely, if ever, come to market at The Pierre,” Aries told the Star.
Residents of the upper-floor co-ops, created in 1959, enjoy access to hotel services, including 24-hour concierge, twicedaily maid service, spa and fitness centre, and business spaces.
Opened in 1930, the luxury hotel calls itself “a cornerstone of NYC glamour and fame.” It has appeared in Hollywood films including “Scent of a Woman,” and has hosted entertainment and fashion royalty such as Elizabeth Taylor, Karl Lagerfeld and Barbra Streisand.