Hot Property: Tommy Hilfiger’s plaza penthouse, Manhattan, New York

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  Hilfiger is a known art collector, which reflects in the four-bedroom house. Photo by Evan Joseph

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  Antique furniture, some of which may be included in the asking price. Photo by Evan Joseph

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  Hilfiger and an hisd wife, model and handbag designer Dee Ocleppo, reportedly spent $20m (Dh73.5m) on renovations. Photo by Evan Joseph

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  The duplex penthouse has a unique domed turret room and private terrace. Photo by Evan Joseph

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  Condo residents of The Plaza Hotel are offered the full complement of hotel amenities, including housekeeping and valet staff, and room service. Photo by Evan Joseph

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  The four-bedroom house also has also includes a formal dining room, eat-in kitchen and library. Photo by Evan Joseph

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  A room seemingly dedicated to the Tommy Hilfiger colours! Photo by Evan Joseph

When the American fashion tycoon Tommy Hilfiger bought two uncombined units on the 18th and 19th floors of New York's historic Plaza Hotel in 2008, he put them, almost immediately, up for sale for US$50 million (Dh183m). Time went by, and Hilfiger enjoyed tremendous success on a business and personal level, receiving a Unesco Support Award for his philanthropic efforts and the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award from the prestigious Council of Fashion Designers of America. But still the properties didn't sell.
When Hilfiger married his second wife, model and handbag designer Dee Ocleppo, the couple decided to take the property off the market, and reportedly spent $20m (Dh73.5m) on renovations. And now, three years after the two floors were combined and impeccably redesigned, the penthouse is back on the market for $75m (Dh275m).
When it comes to location in New York City, you can't beat The Plaza. The landmark luxury hotel and condominium apartment building has long hosted famous performers, celebrity guests and important political meetings. Condo residents are offered the full complement of hotel amenities, including housekeeping and valet staff, and room service from the Jeffery Beers-designed Todd English Food Hall. Situated as it is in this iconic structure on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, the penthouse comes with a private terrace overlooking Central Park.
"I always wanted to acquire trophy real estate because location, location, location is very important. As an investment you can't do better than that," Hilfiger said in a CNN interview. "And if you surround yourself with things you love, it makes for a great home design."
Design was, in fact, a big part of the revamp. Hilfiger, a Warhol collector, has said that the 6,000-square-foot space reflects the "glamour of a bygone era coupled with 21st-century conveniences" – think chandeliers, paintings, dramatic mirrors and a majestic flight of stairs connecting the two floors.
The home is almost tailor-made for Hilfiger's impressive art collection, which includes Harry Benson's photographs of author Truman Capote's famed Black and White masquerade ball, held at the Plaza back in 1966. The designer has revealed that some of the art and most of the antique furnishings, which include pieces once owned by the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, could be included in the sale, under the right terms.
The four-bedroom, five-and-a-half bath property also includes a formal dining room, eat-in kitchen and library. Most unique, perhaps, is a built-in, round, domed "turret" room, which boasts a 35-foot ceiling and houses an original custom-made mural by famed illustrator Hilary Knight. It pays homage to Eloise, a character from Kay Thompson's books from the 1950s about a girl who lives in a "room on the tippy-top floor" of The Plaza Hotel.
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