This weekend the New York Times checks in on the progress of Calvin Klein's massive mansion in the Hamptons. The fashion emperor purchased the 10-acre property for some $30M in 2003, renovated its strange, turreted manse—the place was originally built in the 1920s for famed furniture collector Henry Francis du Pont and expanded with garish gothic touches in the 1980s by financier Barry Trupin—lived there for a while, and finally tore it down in 2009. Ever since, Klein has hired three architects and gone through seemingly endless design revisions and delays in the quest to perfect his dream house—and not without scores of nosy billionaire neighbors trying to get a glimpse of what's going on inside the minimalist pile. (There's no front hedge, and the structure is pretty much all glass.) According to the Times, the house is nearly done and Klein "has more or less moved in." Some vital details:
· Klein has "scoured the Western world for the best monochromatic furnishings money can buy, and even done extensive work to the dunes so that they are exactly to his liking."
· Total cost of the project, including the land: an estimated $75M.
· "He has personally vetted and approved every floorboard and object inside, even designed much of the furniture himself when he thought there was nothing out there that quite met his exacting design standards."
· "There are sliding glass doors in every room, so that anywhere he is can essentially become an outdoor space."
· Furnishings include "white sofa after white sofa," as well as pieces by Poul Kjaerholm, Jean Prouvé, and Le Corbusier.
· In addition to the main house, there's a "a nearby building he plans to use as a screening room," as well as guest wing accessible from the main house "via an underground passageway through a basement garage."
· "Throughout, Mr. Klein was on the phone with Axel Vervoordt, who owns an antiques and home furnishings store in Antwerp, Belgium. Mr. Vervoordt helped construct custom pieces and gave guidance on the finishings. Mr. Klein also shopped at Wyeth, the SoHo furniture store known for its midcentury modern aesthetic, and received advice from its owner, John Birch."
Though Fred Stelle was the final architect to make tweaks to the design, Michael Haverland—who succeeded John Pawson, hammered out with Klein the original concept as a "glass house built in wood, all clean lines and super-edited"—has a decent look at the project on his official site. While there's no exact square footage named, there's a note that Klein's undertaking would measure roughly one-third of the 48,000-square-foot monstrosity he tore down.
· The House That Calvin Built [NYT]
· All Calvin Klein coverage [Curbed National]
· All Calvin Klein coverage [Curbed Hamptons]
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