GLEN COVE, NY.- Roland Auctions NY will present a very rare auction opportunity, offering the highly anticipated collection from the estate of world-renowned New York architect/designer Thierry Despont on April 6th, 2024 at 10am. Previews for the April 6th auction will take place on Thursday, April 4th & Friday, April 5th, 10am - 6pm.
As many are aware, French Architect/Designer Thierry Despont, whose 10,000 square-foot Tribeca townhouse at 182 Franklin Street just recently sold for $25 million dollars, passed away at age 75 last summer.
Despont rose to fame when he worked on the 1986 renovation of the Statue of Libertys torch, crown, and stairways, converted the Battery Maritime Building, did the interior design of 220 Central Park South and restored the historical Woolworth Building. Other projects of his included a renovated $75 million mansion on Londons Kensington Palace Gardens, an East Hampton mansion previously owned by Calvin Klein and building houses for Bill Gates, Conrad Black, Ralph Lauren and Michael Douglas.
Desponts accolades include becoming a Knight of the French Legion of Honor, a Knight of the Arts and Letters and is a member of the Interior Design Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was entrusted with the interior renovation of the Getty Center in Los Angeles, as well as some of Londons top hotels, such as Claridges and the Dorchester, and Pariss Crillon, Peninsula and Ritz Hotels. In 2016, he was ranked by Vanity Fair magazine as the 43rd most influential French entrepreneur in the world. Despite all this praise, Despont was a passionate aesthete, happily doing his lifes work without much fanfare.
All the items in his personal collection up for auction April 6th, are from his Tribeca mansion, which has been described as a family home, not a bachelors pad, as some might believe, with the clubby Edwardian-style paneled rooms, iconic modern furniture, Constructivist art and architectural renderings.The home featured many old prints, along with 19th-century-and-20th-century drawings alongside Desponts own artwork. Furnishings included a pair of facing George Smith sofas, an Anglo-Indian cane campaign bed as coffee table, and Marcel Breuer armchairs facing a pair of Dakota Jackson club chairs, a pair of French modern armchairs and a pair of Donghia side tables.
His world-class taste in interiors and furnishings are now represented in the April 6th auction, with items from the Collection of renowned architect and designer Thierry Despont, including a Benoit Luyckx (Belgian/French, b. 1955) contemporary abstract "Lady Liberty" sculpture, circa 1983, of carved and polished Belgian black marble, signed and dated verso. Provenance: From the Collection of renowned architect and designer Thierry Despont. [31" H x 13" Diam.]. (Est. $1,500 - 2,500), a Modern Art Deco-Style Vanity Suite (4-Pc.), sycamore wood four-piece vanity ensemble, comprising a pair of night stands, a vanity console table, and a vanity stool. Provenance: From the Collection of renowned architect and designer Thierry Despont. [Table: 28" H x 51" W x 17 1/2" D; Stands: 28 1/2" H x 13 1/2" W x 18 1/4" D; Stool: 17 1/4" H x 16 3/4" W x 20" D]. (Est. $600 - 1,000) and an exquisite pair of Thierry Despont (French, 1948-2023) Art Deco-style club armchairs and ottoman with red Loro Piana mohair velvet and custom detachable swiveling cocktail tables, with orb-form reading lights. [Chair: 34" H x 38" W x 47" D; Ottoman: 17" H x 28" W x 22" D]. (Est. $800 - 1,200).
Additional pieces from the Tribeca residence are Chinese bronze rhinoceros model in the Zhou Dynasty taste with textured relief details, with hinged lid. Provenance: From the Collection of renowned architect and designer Thierry Despont. [12 1/4" H x 22" W x 8 1/2" D]. Scattered marks and wear. (Est. $500 800), a B.C. Mobler Danish Teak Coffee Table, circa 1960, possibly designed by Kurt Ostervig, of classic mid-century Scandinavian outline, having a rounded triangle top with dished edge, raised on pierce-carved tripod legs. Provenance: From the Collection of renowned architect and designer Thierry Despont. [20 1/4" H x 49" W x 28" D]. (Est. $300 500) and a Liberty Flame Gilt Bronze Sculpture - "Flamme de la Liberte" commemorative copy of the Liberty Flame in gilt bronze, by Les Metalliers Champenois, bearing inscribed plaque and numbered, mounted on a wood plinth base. From the Collection of renowned architect and designer Thierry Despont. [18 1/2" H x 16 3/4" Diam.]. (Est. $300 500).
Very rare pieces created by Despont himself include a Thierry Despont Mixed Metal Sculpture - mixed metal sculpture, moon-form disc on a vise and stand, exhibited at Marlborough Gallery, Chelsea, New York, Oct. 16-Nov. 15, 2008. Provenance: From the Collection of renowned architect and designer Thierry Despont. [Overall: 97" H x 48 1/2" W x 20" D; Disc: 48 1/2" Diam.]. (Est. $1,000 - 1,500.
The auction will include over 200 lots of rare and highly curated pieces from Desponts own personal collection including artwork, furniture, rare books and sculptures which have never come up at auction before, in addition to Rolands monthly mix of Fine Art, Decorative Art, 20th Century Modern, Antique & Vintage Furniture, Textiles, Silver, Gold and Silver Jewelry, Rugs, Collectibles, Asian Art and Decorative Arts, and Lighting pieces from other estates.