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MEETING…THIERRY DESPONT


In recent years only the world’s most exclusive hotels, as well as some of its most famous and wealthy citizens, have tempted Thierry Despont to put down the paintbrushes in his artist’s studio and pick up an architect’s pen at the drawing board. Now his two biggest hotel projects to date – The Chatwal New York, and The Dorchester Collection’s 45 Park Lane in London – are in their final stages. Neena Dhillon visited the Tribeca offices of this Midas-touched maestro for enlightenment.


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leeper lands in New York shortly after the invitation-only launch phase of The Chatwal, a US$100 million-plus project that has seen a Manhattan landmark


painstakingly restored and modernised to become the theatre district’s premier luxury hotel. As Fashion Week draws to a close, long-limbed models in evening dress and expensive jewellery glide around the property’s sumptuous public spaces, posing for a travel magazine’s photo shoot. One of the beautiful ladies steps outside to balance on a stack of luggage next to an embarrassed- looking, white-gloved doorman, and traffic literally comes to a standstill. It seems an appropriately show-stopping moment in the new life of this historic site, originally designed by the legendary architect Stanford White in 1905 as a home for The Lambs,


036 NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2010 WWW.SLEEPERMAGAZINE.COM


America’s first professional theatre club. Serving as The Lambs Club until the early 1970s when it was sold to the Church of the Nazarene, the neo-Georgian brick building on the ‘Great White Way’ came to the attention of entrepreneur Sant Chatwal ten years ago. Chairman and CEO of Hampshire Hotels & Resorts, an international group with over 3,000 rooms in Manhattan alone, Chatwal was drawn to the location’s rich heritage and envisaged its transformation into an exceptional five-star hotel, a meticulous process that would be undertaken in collaboration with the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. As the debut property of his eponymous luxury brand, due to expand soon with destinations in England and India, the project required an exceptional designer who could work within the constraints of its landmark status while


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