1 · POSITION
French-born, New York-based, trained at the Beaux-Arts and Harvard. His practice ran from the restoration of the Statue of Liberty for the 1986 centenary through the Getty Center and a long series of hotel interiors, of which the Library holds his work for Divan, LHL-083 Divan Hotels.
2 · WHY HE IS IN THE LIBRARY
Despont belongs to the small group of designers whose method was archaeological rather than decorative: establish what a building was, then make the new work legible as new. In hotel interiors, where the usual instinct is to invent a past, that is a distinct authorship and it has been widely imitated without being widely understood.
3 · WHAT THIS MODEL DOES NOT SOLVE
Archaeological restraint is expensive and invisible to most guests, which is why the imitations tend to keep the palette and drop the discipline. ⚡ The Library holds one anchor for him where his hotel work is far wider; the entry is thinner than the subject deserves and should be revisited.