![\"deniot](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/edc090125wdeniot-006-68bf063580c6c.jpg\" "\\"deniot")
Stephan Julliard<\/p>\nAbove: In the sitting room of an Upper East Side townhouse designed by Jean-Louis Deniot, with architecture by Anderson Kenny, an Ugo Rondinone wall sculpture hangs over a 19th-century French marble mantel. Custom sofa in Pollack and Dedar fabrics; vintage daybed and bird sculptures by Jacques Adnet; cocktail table and sconces by Ado Chale; 1950s armchair by Maxime Old; hand-painted wallcovering by Florence Girette; artwork by Donald Baechler (right).<\/p>\n
A 17,000-square-foot triplex in Bangkok, a palace in Qatar, and a \u201cfarmhouse\u201d in Delhi that looks more like a mini-Versailles than an agricultural holding. These are just a few of the projects Jean-Louis Deniot has taken on since the French interior designer set up his own firm in 2002. He\u2019s currently putting the finishing touches on the Cambridge House Hotel on London\u2019s Piccadilly, and he has residences on the drawing board in Athens, Hong Kong, and Paris.<\/p>\n
One city, however, has remained a sort of professional holy grail: New York. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy to make your mark there,\u201d Deniot says. \u201cYou really have to buckle down and persevere.\u201d He has kept a pied-\u00e0-terre in Manhattan for the past 20 years, and he has received several residential commissions, including a grand apartment on Fifth Avenue and a duplex in a Chelsea condominium designed by Annabelle Selldorf.<\/p>\n
Stephan Julliard<\/p>\n
In the entry, the Calacatta Oro marble staircase has a wrought iron handrail inspired by Jean Roy\u00e8re. Vintage armchair in a Pierre Frey fabric; 1940s side table by Jacques Adnet; artworks (from left) by Lee Krasner and Gregor Hildebrandt.<\/p>\n
This fall he\u2019ll make his biggest splash to date with the unveiling of the 375 apartments and more than 50,000 square feet of amenities he has designed for the highly anticipated Waldorf Astoria Residences. The units themselves feature pared-down architectural elements inspired by the hotel\u2019s landmark Art Deco style. There\u2019s also a pool with raku-clad columns and mosaics inspired by kimonos and Klimt, a billiard room wrapped in cork, and a high-voltage entry hall with towering marble columns.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy hope,\u201d Deniot says, \u201cis that the decor will end up being landmarked. It corresponds so well to the Waldorf DNA.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"deniot](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/edc090125wdeniot-001-68bf06bb27192.jpg\" "\\"deniot")
Stephan Julliard<\/p>\n
The kitchen and family room overlook a garden with a fountain from Fremontier Antiquaires in Paris. Outdoor seating by Piet Hein Eek.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not easy to make your mark in New York. You really have to buckle down.\u201d\u2014Jean-Louis deniot<\/p>\n
Deniot was intent on creating something equally showstopping when he was approached to design this double-lot six-story townhouse on New York\u2019s Upper East Side. \u201cI asked myself, \u2018What should such a house look like today?\u2019 \u201d he says. Through contacts, he gained access to several recent examples. Some seemed too brand-new, others slavish reconstitutions.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things I concluded was there shouldn\u2019t be too much contemporary art, otherwise it becomes unlivable,\u201d he says. \u201cEach work screams for too much attention.\u201d He was also keen to celebrate conventional details such as bronze window frames\u2014a typical New York City feature, to his mind. Those details would also serve to introduce a certain formality. \u201cIt\u2019s not like we were in the East Village, where you could do something artsy,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
![\"deniot](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/edc090125wdeniot-007-68bf082fc2b20.jpg\" "\\"deniot")
Stephan Julliard<\/p>\n
A Herv\u00e9 van der Straeten chandelier hangs in the dining room over a custom table by Vincenzo de Cotiis. Vintage chairs and sideboard by Gio Ponti; artwork by Bernard Frize.<\/p>\n
Still, conventional in Deniot\u2019s world doesn\u2019t exactly mean staid or boring. He\u2019ll often give his rooms a traditional framework and then pump up the volume or throw a curve-ball. Here, there may be a grand staircase with a crisscross metal handrail inspired by the work of French modernist designer Jean Roy\u00e8re, but it\u2019s paired with eye-popping geometric patterns on the entry floors and walls. In one of the powder rooms he counterbalanced an elaborate Italian baroque mirror with a striking floor design\u2014one with black and white checkerboard edging that is a tongue-in-cheek nod to New York taxis.<\/p>\n
His clients\u2014he is the founder of a financial services company; she is a strategic consultant and philanthropist\u2014had interviewed numerous designers before reaching out to Deniot. \u201cI did a ton of research on the internet, and his name kept coming up,\u201d says the wife. \u201cI didn\u2019t even realize he was an established designer.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"deniot](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/edc090125wdeniot-009-68bf090e16c52.jpg\" "\\"deniot")
Stephan Julliard<\/p>\n
In the walnut-paneled library, the custom mantel in Grand Antique marble displays 1940s vases by Charles Catteau and a candelabra by Georges Jouve. Custom sofa in a Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Lesage tweed; artwork by Richard Misrach.<\/p>\n
The couple had previously lived for 20 years in the house that used to occupy the left half of the plot. \u201cWe loved it, but it just wasn\u2019t working for us anymore,\u201d she says. \u201cWe had five kids, big entertaining spaces, and a tiny kitchen and family room.\u201d When the home next door came up for sale, they jumped at the chance to buy it. They initially planned to connect the two, but when that proved impossible, they decided to tear down both structures and start from scratch. They asked the Greenwich, Connecticut, firm Anderson Kenny Architecture to model the new brick and limestone fa\u00e7ade largely on their old house.<\/p>\n
Deniot\u2019s clients also asked him to work with their existing art collection as much as possible, which included paintings by the likes of Lee Krasner, Brice Marden, and Donald Baechler, and a Kiki Smith drawing of a bird sitting on a pile of eggs. \u201cThat represents me and my five children,\u201d says the wife. There was also a large, bowed Andr\u00e9 Arbus desk, which found its place in the new main sitting room; a Gio Ponti burlwood sideboard, which inspired the similarly toned walnut paneling in the library; and a pair of blue leather\u2013clad Jacques Adnet chests.<\/p>\n
![\"deniot](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/edc090125wdeniot-005-68bf096784304.jpg\" "\\"deniot")
Stephan Julliard<\/p>\n
The basement swimming pool is in a space enclosed with Verde Antigua marble, polished stainless steel, and mirrors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked myself, \u2018What should such a house look like today?\u2019 \u201d\u2014Jean-Louis Deniot<\/p>\n
Deniot complemented these with special commissions from such contemporary stars as Herv\u00e9 van der Straeten and Vincenzo De Cotiis, as well as signed pieces of the same period. But he also mixed in a number of anonymous finds, adopting a high-low approach he likes to call \u201cuninhibited design.\u201d He has been known to integrate items unearthed in garage sales or picked up off the street, though he didn\u2019t do that here. \u201cI often compare my rooms to a film, where you need both lead actors and extras,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Take a Closer Look![\"deniot](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/edc090125wdeniot-010-68bf0a6600253.jpg\" "\\"deniot")
Open Gallery![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.elledecor.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/fre\/static\/icons\/arrow-right.7440adc.svg\" "\\"Black"){kind=icon}
<\/p>\n
Working with his very decisive clients, he says, was like a game of ping-pong. She visited the Herm\u00e8s flagship store on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honor\u00e9 in Paris, where she liked the handrails. They provided the starting point for the back staircase. She fell in love with the reconstitution of Jeanne Lanvin\u2019s bathroom in the Mus\u00e9e des Arts D\u00e9coratifs. Deniot clad one of the powder rooms with a wallcovering named for its designer, Armand-Albert Rateau. They traveled to Italy to choose the marble and organized visits to Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Lesage\u2019s Normandy fabric workshops and to the Paris studio of photographer Katerina Jebb. They also made countless trips to Paris\u2019s flea markets\u2014\u201ca big candy store\u201d for Deniot.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t imagine collaborating with another decorator,\u201d she says. \u201cMy eye became much more refined from working with him. He\u2019s really brilliant, but more than brilliant, he\u2019s just so much fun.\u201d<\/p>\n