Thierry Guy Despont (19 April 1948 – 13 August 2023)[1] was a French architect, artist and designer who lived and worked inNew York City.[2][3]
During the 1980s, he was the associate architect for therestoration of theStatue of Liberty. He then went on to remodel theHerbert N. Straus House at 9 East 72nd Street on Manhattan'sUpper East Side for the billionaireLeslie Wexner ofLimited Inc. fame (a home which later gained additional notoriety as the abode ofJeffrey Epstein).[4][5]
Among the high-profile buildings in Manhattan he had designed the interiors for are220 Central Park South,53W53 (the interiors of the condominiums), and theWoolworth Building.[6]
In the early 2000s, he designed the interiors forGordon Ramsay's restaurant, the eponymousGordon Ramsay at Claridge's inLondon. In 2005 he did alterations toThe Promenade restaurant atthe Dorchester, including fitting it with an oval leather bar the length ofNelson's Column.[7] Between 2007 and 2010, he renovated theLambs Club's former clubhouse in New York City intothe Chatwal New York hotel.[8]
In 2009, Despont redesigned the two restaurants and the barIl Pricipe at theHotel Principe di Savoia inMilan, Italy.[9][10] Despont worked on the physical conversion of a section of theBattery Maritime Building inLower Manhattan, into the 47 suite luxury hotelCasa Cipriani, which opened in late 2021.
Despont was known for being "the designer of choice for titans of industry," to cite his obituary inArchitectural Digest.[11] His clients includedBill Gates,Calvin Klein,Jayne Wrightsman, Annette andOscar de la Renta,Conrad Black,Leslie Wexner, Peggy andMickey Drexler, andPeter Morton. "To be successful at my job, one must be very good at understanding not only a client's needs, but also a client's dreams and memories," Despont told the journalistNina Munk in 1999. "One must know where the client comes from and what they desire. Part of the craft is learning to read people, to see things they are sure about, the things they are unsure about; the things they don't convey verbally, but express through their surroundings."[12]
He graduated fromÉcole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts andHarvard Graduate School of Design.[13]
Thierry Despont died on 13 August 2023, at the age of 75.[14]
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