Mayfair has added a new luxury address to its super-prime property portfolio: 60 Curzon, an elegant collection of 32 deco-inspired residences with five-star amenities.
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It was the final residential project designed by famed interior architect Thierry Despont, who died last August aged 75.
Despont’s storied career included redesigning the Promenade restaurant at the Dorchester, and Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant at Claridge’s. Throughout his career, Despont put his design stamp all over New York, with a $60 million refurbishment of the Statue of Liberty to mark its 100th anniversary in the mid-1980s, alongside projects at the city’s famed Plaza Hotel and the Casa Cipriani.
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‘This was the last project [Despont] ever did. He’s famous for deco-inspired hotels and hospitality. It is our honour and privilege that he did this building,’ says Charles Leigh, sales director of 60 Curzon, as we meet for a ‘first look’ of one of the lateral apartments.
Leigh previously spent the best part of the decade working for Finchatton, which included work on high-profile campaigns for Twenty Grosvenor Square and The Whiteley. During Leigh’s quarter-century career, he also served as head of international sales at CBRE and as the head of prime development at Knight Frank.
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Today, he is responsible for overseeing the sale of these properties, which have starting prices for a studio flat of £3 million. The largest unit is around 4,500 sq ft. The exterior building, which has a facade that combines bright Portland stone and bronze ironmongery, was designed by PLP Architecture.
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Seven of the 32 apartments have already been exchanged, with interest coming from British HNWs as well as Americans, Indian buyers and those from the Gulf region. ‘[Our clients’] are very international,’ says Leigh. ‘The reality is that when you’ve got a building like this, you’re appealing to the world’s wealthy, not just UK wealth.’ Enquiries have also come in from UHNWs based in Norway and Spain.
The destination for our tour is a £15 million two-bedroom fully-furnished apartment on the third floor, which sits at a spacious 2,024 sq ft, with a private outdoor terrace adding an additional 700 sq ft.
The property’s size comes in at just under the new planning restrictions implemented by Westminster Council on new-build properties in 2021. 60 Curzon gained planning consent in 2017, before the new policy framework was implemented, paving the way for some larger units in the property, including two penthouses on the top floor which are currently undecorated and can be melded to any UHNW client’s creative desires.
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The apartment boasts an open-plan living space, kitchen with a central island, and two en-suite bedrooms. Large French windows bathe the space in natural light and offer access to the private terrace – one of just a handful in the development, although half have some sort of outdoor space.
All residents have access to a leafy ground-floor courtyard, landscaped and designed by Gustafson Porter + Bowman, which has taken inspiration from English woodlands.
‘There are threads of [Despont’s] design everywhere,’ Leigh says of the apartment’s interiors. ‘There are lots of elements of symmetry – you can see that particularly in bathrooms, and dressing rooms. This was his brainchild, his baby, for years – he was all over it.’
As has become expected for such super-prime developments, residents will have access to a full range of amenities, including an upcoming ‘destination’ restaurant on the ground floor which will pay homage to the development’s roots. The site previously hosted Mirabelle – an A-list favourite frequented by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kylie Minogue.
‘It was up there with the most famous restaurants in the world,’ says Leigh. ‘JFK used to go there, Marilyn Monroe and Winston Churchill.’ Details have not been confirmed but the team is in discussion ‘with a couple of unbelievable restaurateurs’ for the new additions.
Residents at 60 Curzon also have access to a 20m swimming pool and vitality rooms; temperature-controlled rooms for storage of rare whiskies, fine wines and cigars; a steam room, sauna and intimate gym.
The wider neighbourhood takes in two royal parks and restaurants including Ollie Dabous’s HIDE Mayfair and Richard Caring’s Bacchanalia. Green Park is minutes away, as is Robin Birley’s 5 Hertford Street.
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While his UHNW clients often manage to remain dispassionate in their business affairs, purchasing a new turnkey home is often an emotional decision, rather than a rational one, Leigh says.
He adds: ‘Over the years, I’ve done walkarounds with some unbelievably smart, sometimes very commercially-aggressive people – sometimes husband and wife teams. And they walk around an apartment like this that has all those tick boxes – the amenities downstairs, the privacy and the security, the concierge, the beautiful design, and the amazing terrace.
‘They stand there, they hold hands, and they look at each other with watery eyes, and say, “we’re buying it.” That’s a decision based purely on emotion.’
