David Geffen doesn’t like seeing light switches or electric outlets. The tycoon’s design hangups are revealed in an Architectural Record piece profiling his multimillion dollar spread, but never mentioning the billionaire by name.
Now that the music mogul has settled his bruising divorce with his ex, boy toy David Armstrong, he’s seemingly low-key showing off a way-beyond-stunning renovation he’s done on the Fifth Ave. penthouse he bought in 2012 for $54M. The apartment appears in the latest issue of the high-end mag, but while Highline architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro take credit for the pad’s transformation, Geffen’s name is nowhere in the piece.
But there are hints! “The client is in the entertainment industry and spends a certain amount of time in Los Angeles,” says the feature.
Multiple sources also told Page Six Hollywood that the music mogul is indeed the owner of the profiled place, with a headline that says: “Room With a View: Diller Scofidio + Renfro rebuilds a Manhattan apartment to house museum-quality art and its collector.” (Geffen has anonymously unveiled the sprawling pad the same month he debuted the 20 years-in-the-making $150M David Geffen Galleries at LACMA.)
The Architectural Record piece says that: “On rare occasions, architects get to explore particular design ideas to the fullest—all it takes is a sympathetic client with the right means and discernment. Fortunately, Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) had this opportunity in revamping a penthouse apartment in New York City. Although the project is not at the scale of a cultural or civic monument, the commission allowed the architects and a cohort of consultants, artisans, and engineers to create a singular example of this truism.” DS+R principal Elizabeth Diller remarks, “We do few domestic projects, but we took this one on because the client was knowledgeable about architecture and open to a fully bespoke design approach, down to the smallest details.”
I reported for Page Six back in 2012 that Geffen had scooped up socialite song writer Denise Rich’s Upper East Side penthouse overlooking the park. The DreamWorks co-founder sold off another unit he owned in the same building to Soviet-born billionaire Eugene Shvidler for $24.5 million.
The AR piece says of the anonymous Geffen’s new digs: “The client also owned the apartment below, prompting DS+R to propose rebuilding the penthouse level using skinny steel columns with a Miesian profile, which would not only support a roof terrace above but ensure that the incomparable view would not be disturbed. The architects inserted steel beams in the floor slab underfoot, then placed the cruciform columns at a remove from the new window wall in the living and dining area.”
A source familiar with the property told me with a sigh this week: “The renovation drove everybody in the building crazy.” (The Post had reported in 2016 that the work even led to a legal dispute with some neighbors. But we hear the work has been done for a while, and the AR piece says it was a five-year project. Geffen even paid to have the building’s lobby renovated himself, Page Six previously reported.)
Some other details that caught our eye: “Within this greenhouse-like setting, paintings are protected from the sun by a UV coating on the outside of the large glass panes. Solar shades and a museum-quality HVAC system keep the glare, temperature, and humidity balanced. An antireflective coating on the inside of the glass assures that occupants have a clear view to the outside; privacy blinds keep voyeurs with telescopes in other buildings from looking in.”
Also, “DS+R worked with L’Observatoire International to install temperature-calibrated LEDs (with some halogen lighting fixtures) that were not too noticeable. ‘The client dislikes seeing any devices, including sensors, light switches, and electric outlets,’ notes DS+R project leader Jeremy Boon-Bordenave, explaining the many details that conceal unsightly protrusions.”
An editor at the mag commented, “The owner’s identity is confidential,” and Geffen did not get back to us.
