French architect and designer Thierry Despont passed away on Sunday, August 13th at his home in Southampton, New York. He was 75.
Born in Limoges, France, Despont attended École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and received a master’s degree in urban design from Harvard University. In 1980, Despont relocated to New York and established his namesake design studio.
Despont served as associate architect on the restoration of the Statue of Liberty during the ’80s, a two-year, $60 million undertaking. He also converted several floors of the Woolworth Building in Tribeca into residences, and transformed the Battery Maritime Building—a historic ferry terminal—into members club Casa Cipriani.
“You cannot practice architecture without knowing history,” he told Vanity Fair in a 2015 interview.
Additional notable projects include the residential lobby at the Four Seasons Hotel One Dalton Street, Boston; guestrooms and public areas at the soon-to-open Raffles London at the OWO; and the revamp of the iconic Palm Court restaurant at the Plaza Hotel in New York.
Despont also designed the homes of Bill Gates, Calvin Klein, Oscar de la Renta, Jayne Wrightsman, among other.
Read more about Despont’s legacy via The New York Times.
