It took what many would consider an unparalleled level of expertise to create Mr. C Residences, boutique condominiums connected to the Mr. C Beverly Hills hotel, affiliated with the Italian Cipriani family. That level was achieved with the vision of developer Bob Ghassemieh; the hotel’s general manager, Sam Jagger; architect Marcello Pozzi; renowned architect and SCI-Arc
founder Ray Kappe; and his son, architect Finn Kappe. Ghassemieh called in Pozzi for the interiors
because he had already undertaken the hotel’s gut renovation when he was on staff with Gensler,
plus the developer had also embarked on a residential project with both Pozzi and Kappe. “When
Bob asked me if I could do the Mr. C Residences for him, it was easy to say yes,” Kappe says. “He’s
a great client with special taste. So it was a natural progression.”
Kappe was tasked with converting an existing six-unit apartment building into condominiums that
would maximize views and relate to the existing hotel, built in 1965 by Kite & Overpeck Associates. He
eschewed a stacked model in favor of townhouse-style layouts for five units side by side, the middle
three of which include dining rooms and bathrooms tucked into cantilevered glass boxes. “Relating
to the aesthetics of the existing hotel was important,” notes Kappe. “The new residences needed to
be ‘stand alone’ but complete the villa feel of the hotel as well. White plaster was selected as the
primary exterior material; the balconies on the north side echo the balconies of the hotel; and the
horizontal windows counter but also work well against the hotel’s verticality.” A “cobblestone” street
made of stamped concrete physically links the two buildings, while Pozzi further connected the two
properties by introducing a new level of interior furnishings that departed from yet were still related
to his work within the hotel. “I just wanted to complement the architecture without being invasive,”
Pozzi says. He achieved this with “glass furniture, iconic upholstered pieces, custom teak millwork
crafted into the architectural composition and vertical lighting to play off of the horizontal planes.”
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DESTINATIONS
