“This is one room I know I’m going to be proud of all my life,” Thierry W. Despont said of the library he created for Conrad Black, in a Georgian Revival mansion in Toronto, Canada.
The library’s baronial design, a riff on the domed hall of Palladio’s Villa Capra, known as La Rotonda, near Vicenza, Italy, soars to a height of 26 feet and has a diameter of 22 feet.
Unlike some libraries, it was, in fact, conceived with certain practical requirements in mind. “He has a large collection of books on history,” Despont said of the client, “and the books are read.” Built-in bookcases made of oak skirt the walls of the bilevel space.
On the room’s lower level, designer Vincent Fourcade introduced furnishings that encourage one to stretch out amid the beautiful room. A plump sofa and a pair of armchairs flanking it, has a Brunschwig & Fils slipcover fabric. On the windows, Fourcade used a damask and a moiré, and on the floors, richly colored Oriental carpets from Stark.
The second-floor gallery, about 12 feet up, is accessed by a secret stairway hidden in one of the bookcasesl.
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