$78.3m Knightsbridge mansion, interiors by Nicola Fontanella of Argent Design for sale

At Fonteyn House in Knightsbridge, unveiled by luxury developer Caudwell, globally renowned interior architecture and design studio Argent Design have revealed their bespoke interior design scheme for the beautiful and luxurious interiors, inspired by the Art Deco architecture and its history as the London residence of Dame Margot Fonteyn, the world’s most famous prima ballerina (1919-1991).

With its own gated driveway, Fonteyn House provides 15,980 sq.ft. of luxurious interior designed and dressed living space, created by Argent Design in collaboration with Caudwell. Behind the retained 1920s period garden façade the brand new turn-key residence includes six bedroom suites, three reception/family rooms, cinema/club room, health spa with gym and 15 metre swimming pool.

There is also a passenger lift, garden gallery, with French doors opening onto the walled garden, outside dining terrace and a rooftop terraced garden with a kitchen/bar and views of the V&A Museum opposite.

The interiors of Fonteyn House showcase an elegant yet glamorous aesthetic, with timeless custom-made furniture, perfectly executed stone, marble and millwork and radiant, jewel-like detailing. Argent Design has paid homage to the inimitable style of the Art Deco era, the residence’s fascinating past and the generation-defining people who were hosted here.

Argent Design was founded in 1997 by CEO Nicola Fontanella who goes by the moniker Fontanella in her professional life. Fontanella brings to the project her 30 years of experience as the interior designer of choice for some of the most celebrated personalities and brands across the globe.

With offices and outposts in London, Miami, Australia, Dubai and Shanghai, Fontanella counts Madonna, Guy Ritchie, Naomi Campbell, Harrods, Selfridges, Gieves & Hawkes, Annabel’s and Lalique among her clients, with a portfolio spanning private residences, luxury developments, restaurants, retail spaces, ski lodges, yachts and private jets.

Fontanella was instantly beguiled by Fonteyn House, with its Art Deco origins and multi-layered narrative. Originally built in 1928, between the 1930s and late 1990s Fonteyn House served as the official residence of the Ambassador of Panama.

 

Following her wedding in 1955 to diplomat Dr Roberto Emilio Arias (1918-1989), whose father served as the President of Panama, prima ballerina assoluta Margot Fonteyn moved to Fonteyn House with her husband, who had been appointed as Panamanian Ambassador to the Court of St James (UK).

During the 1950s and 1960s, guests at Fonteyn House included HRH Princess Margaret, Anthony Armstrong-Jones, actors John Wayne and Peter Sellers, fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev. When Nureyev, Fonteyn’s ballet partner, defected from the USSR (Russia) in 1961, he lived at Fonteyn House whilst his contract with the Royal Ballet was being negotiated.

In 1999 the Panamanian Ambassador’s residence relocated to Hertford Street in Mayfair leading to the sale of the house and the now completed restoration. Working closely with John Caudwell, Founder of Caudwell, Fontanella orchestrated the interior architecture and design scheme for Fonteyn House, ensuring it is as elegant and immaculately dressed as style icon Margot Fonteyn, often photographed swathed in Dior.

The three storey house offers lateral living space over the spa floor, lower ground floor with outside terrace, ground and two upper floors. Behind the Doric-columned and domed entrance portico, the ground floor entrance hall instantly reveals the home’s extraordinary width and volume, with Calacatta marble flooring flowing through to the stunning garden gallery, which has three sets of French doors opening on to the manicured walled garden.

At the end of the garden gallery rises the elegant cantilerved limestone staircase, with delicate wrought-iron and walnut balustrade, inspired, Fontanella says, by “a ballerina who walks on air”. With its central atrium, the curved staircase rises through the house and allows natural light to cascade into all the floors.

The dual aspect main reception room, has multiple French windows, including an original bay, opening onto the garden. The room’s colour palette is inspired by that chicest of shades, a cool light grey known as “Gris Dior”, a subtle reference to the Dior fashion outfits associated with Dame Margot Fonteyn.

With bespoke wall panelling, warm herringbone oak parquet flooring, reinstated coving and a white Emperador marble fireplace, the main reception room has been dressed by Fontanella to provide a spacious living room, 12 seat dining room and an entertaining area, ensuring a choice of elegant yet practical spaces for relaxing and hosting.

Standout features include the built-in cocktail bar, clad in rare Persian Palissandro Bluette marble, bespoke glass coffee table with antique mirrored base, armchairs covered in Romo fabric with crisp Samuel & Sons piping and a bespoke circular chandelier, providing a contemporary take on Art Deco lighting.

The main family living/dining space and kitchen opens onto an outside dining terrace. Here Fontanella has created a cosy and welcoming informal living space, while still providing bespoke, luxurious details throughout. The kitchen has been designed in collaboration with Smallbone, with oak veneer cabinetry with metallic trim, polished Calacatta marble countertops, a Quooker tap and Subzero refrigeration and wine storage.

In the family dining area, a bespoke, highly lacquered dark walnut table with brass inset details to its base seats 12, while in the lounge area a curvaceous stained-oak sofa and swivel armchairs are covered in Clarke & Clarke’s Savile-Row inspired Malone linen, from its Burlington collection.

A polished creamy-white Paonazzo countertop, displaying the marble’s characteristic grey and gold veins, adds a dash of decadence, with statement architectural lighting provided by an elegant Deco style chandelier, on a cross brace hung with distressed Lucite tiles.

Adjacent to the family room/kitchen is the club/cinema room, with a palette in that quintessentially British colour, “Racing Green”, which was also a favourite colour worn by Dame Margot Fonteyn when she hosted important guests at Fonteyn House in her role as the wife of the Panamanian Ambassador.

Imagined as a James Bond style cool urban retreat, with nods to 1950s Mid Century Modern style, the club/cinema room features cocooning wall panelling upholstered in rich green Pepe Peñalver fabric, a moss-green hand-tufted wool carpet on the floor, a cocktail bar hewn from emerald Verde Antique marble with fluted panel, and high-gloss stained-walnut furniture upholstered in Romo fabric.

The spa floor has been designed as a serene oasis of wellbeing, bathed in natural light from the skylights above the swimming pool and through the use of glass walls to the gymnasium and sauna. The 15-metre swimming pool is clad in Travertine marble, with waterfall features to the walls and a cinema-style flat screen.

The steam room, changing rooms, gymnasium and treatment room have polished light dove grey Statuarietto marble floors, sourced in Carrara, with the pièce de résistance being the custom-made chandelier hanging from the coffered ceiling above the pool. Crafted by Sans Souci from thousands of strands of Bohemian crystal, painstakingly installed individually, the pool chandelier creates the mesmerising effect of delicately cascading waterdrops.

The six bedroom suites include the principal bedroom suite, with its own private level on the first floor, incorporating two separate main bedrooms, twin walk-in dressing rooms with built-in cupboards and twin main bathrooms clad in rare marble with Art Deco detailing. On the second floor lies the principal guest suite, originally Dame Margot Fonteyn’s dance studio where she practiced ballet with Rudolf Nureyev.

Throughout the bedrooms, Argent Design have introduced a warm, intimate scheme of colours, textiles and textures, with deeper greys and blues to walls, bespoke cornicing and the use of rare marbles and dramatic stone and millwork to floors and ensuites, providing a seamless connection to the rest of the residence.

Dramatically dark polished Noir St Laurent and polished white Crystal Onyx are offset by textured wallpapers from Phillip Jeffries, fabrics by Andrew Martin, Romo, Iliv, Zimmer + Rohde and James Hare, with unique touches such as bathroom brassware by THG Paris, finished with Lalique clear or black crystal handles adorned with masterful carvings of panthers.

Lars Christiaanse, Group Director of Sales at Caudwell says: “Originally the Knightsbridge home of iconic prima ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn, Fonteyn House has entertained Royalty, famous fashion designers and world renowned performing artists. Its immaculate restoration needed to be matched by a bespoke interiors scheme worthy of its Art Deco heritage and fascinating history, and to have global resonance. Employing clever strategies to make sure every floor is flooded with light, and maximising views over the private walled garden, Argent Design has created an opulent urban sanctuary, drawing on rare marbles, handcrafted joinery and the finest British craftsmanship. Every possible contemporary must-have such as state-of-the-art home tech and comfort heat and cooling has been seamlessly incorporated, creating the finest new residence in Knightsbridge.”

Fontanella, Founder & CEO of Argent Design, says: “The Art Deco period has always been my favourite, so it was an absolute joy to design the interiors of the Art Deco inspired Fonteyn House. To Dame Margot Fonteyn, quality, perfection and presentation was central to everything she did, so I channelled both her mastery of stage and personal style to create a residence characterised by elegant glamour, perfect lines and poetic lyricism, commissioning bespoke furniture, wonderful stone and millwork and jewel-like details. Form and function are equally important, and a home needs to be timeless, so while I approached every room as a beautiful artwork, each space had to have a clear purpose and distinct character.”

Fonteyn House on Thurloe Place is listed for sale on a turn-key basis, fully furnished with interiors by Argent Design, with a guide price of £58,000,000 ($78.3 million US dollars). For further information contact Caudwell on Tel: +44 (0)203 875 6235 E: [email protected] or visit: www.caudwell.com