Couple create enviable Paris home away from home
The 18th-century Parisian apartment of British design connoisseur Charles Garnett and his partner, gallery owner Sylvain Lévy-Alban, is steeped in heirlooms and history
Walking into the glamorous 18th-century Parisian home of Charles Garnett and Sylvain Lévy-Alban, it is difficult to believe it once was a chaotic warren of rooms.
“It was very old-fashioned, run-down – nothing had been done to it for 30 years,” says Garnett. “There was a fridge in the dining room, the bathroom walls looked like slabs of meat and the kitchen was very small and impractical.”
The couple, however, have a history of transforming other family-owned apartments, in London, Rome and Hong Kong, into idiosyncratic gems that show off their considerable collection of antiques dating from the 17th to 20th centuries.
Garnett, who moved from Britain to Hong Kong in 1988, now leads Arthur & Co, a consultancy that sources one-of-a-kind architectural and design products and services for the likes of The Peninsula Hotels and the Mandarin Oriental hotel chain. The British connoisseur also advises a number of private clients, and provides experts, such as a French specialist to hand-paint trompe-l’oeil kitchen cupboards, and items such as Louis XVI-style iron gates.
Paris-born Lévy-Alban is an antiques dealer specialising in works from the post-Renaissance period to the 20th century, including costumes, objets d’art, paintings and porcelain, which he sources for clients, including museums.
The couple bought the sun-filled, 1,500 sq ft first-floor apartment, just a short walk from Lévy-Alban’s eponymous gallery in the 7th arrondissement, in 2009.
