Jean-Louis Deniot doesn’t rush. Not when he designs, and not when he walks through Cambridge House, the 18th-century Palladian-style townhouse in London’s Mayfair neighborhood that the Paris-based architect and interior designer is currently restoring.
Commissioned in 1756, the Grade I–listed neoclassical building has had many lives (including as home to British Prime Minister Henry John Temple in the mid-1800s and as the former In & Out Naval and Military Club), but none quite like what Deniot has dreamed up for Auberge Collection’s newest property. “Cambridge House is a grand, beautiful mansion that felt suspended in time—a real Sleeping Beauty,” he says of the first time he saw the building. “There was something instantly familiar about it. It has that worldly British grandeur.”
Caption: Paris-based Jean-Louis Deniot infuses architectural classicism with his own brand of design alchemy.
Deniot was a natural choice to lead its transformation. Famous for his opulent projects, such as Château Latour winery (owned by François Pinault), his residential style—artistic pieds-à-terre in Paris, elegant estates in Beverly Hills, contemporary apartments in New York City—and his deep knowledge of English residential architecture made him a perfect fit for the monumental undertaking.
It also helped that his signature style marries the gravitas of French neoclassicism with an eclectic, British sensibility. Architecturally, Deniot often favors a French enfilade approach to floor plans, a sequence of rooms with doors aligned on a singular axis that can result in palatial sight lines.
Caption: A Parisian dining room designed by Deniot combines stormy marbled walls and gilded table legs with traditional touches such as a neoclassical fireplace mantel and Louis XVI dining chairs.
Influenced by designers like Henri Samuel—a decorator for the Rothschilds—Deniot balances formality with theatricality. Purism isn’t his style: He once turned a one-of-a-kind Ado Chale dining table into a coffee table for his office, a choice that would leave more timid decorators clutching their pearls.
Deniot’s connection to this particular building in Mayfair, though, was purely instinctive.
In a modern Paris apartment, Deniot’s barrel-vaulted foyer clad in Carrara marble is a serene juxtaposition for a fanciful gilt mirror and shagreen chair by R&Y Augousti.
In a Parisian example of Deniot’s mastery over both classic and modern styles, Carrara marble sheathing meets Hervé van der Straeten wall sconces and a Verner Panton pendant.
In this Miami bedroom, Deniot dreamt up a celestial retreat complete with a swirling fresco overhead. The geometric wall grounds the otherwise ethereal vision.
Multi-towered chandeliers draw the eye up into barrel-arched spaces like this one—also in Miami—where rough luxe concrete walls and mirrored arches set the stage for Deniot’s play of textures and forms.
Looking to the works of famed traditional English architects like Sir Edwin Lutyens, Deniot identified first what to preserve and second what to evolve. “The Adam style is so pure and balanced, and that was something I really wanted to protect,” he says. “But there were many things that needed correcting: the symmetry, the proportions, the light. We improved everything we could, always in total harmony with the original.” The highest compliment, he adds, is when his work becomes invisible.
Deniot’s approach blends precision with theater. In a building like this, every room needed to offer a different mood. “You don’t walk through this hotel, but rather you move from one surprise to the next,” he says. A guest might leave a light-filled historic tea salon to discover a richly colored cocktail lounge or hidden ivy-covered courtyard. “I wanted everyone to find their favorite corner.” That demanded a sweep of moods, styles, and references—all while remaining true to the structure’s original Georgian aesthetic.
One challenge: Much of what looks original to Cambridge House, in fact, isn’t. “Half of the building is new,” Deniot says, referring to the extension to the original home. “Because of that, I designed architectural details that blur the line, so you can’t tell where the old structure ends and the new one begins.” Additions are so seamless, even those deeply familiar with the historic structure might not notice. “In the English tradition, when there’s a system of ornament, it’s often repeated. I paid close attention to unifying the rooms.”
In the public spaces, Deniot thought through every scale and surface. “When a room is very grand, you need to humanize it,” he says. “The person has to be the center of interest. They shouldn’t feel overwhelmed.” That meant layering the lighting, from floor to ceiling, and adding visual warmth at eye level, the way candlelit interiors once did. It also required shaping the furniture, sight lines, colors, and corners with comfort in mind. “I varied seat heights and table heights to make them lower and more lounge-like.” Even the most imposing space has a nook that feels like it’s meant just for you.
That personal scale carries over to the guest rooms, where Deniot set out to capture the feeling of a private residence. “Every room is designed like an English apartment; it feels like your own London flat,” he says. His studio designed every piece of furniture to control proportion and create a sense of unity, giving the rooms a lived-in balance. “It should feel as if everything had always been there.”
That’s especially true of the historic suites, each of which is dedicated to a sovereign such as Victoria, Mary II, and Elizabeth II. “Each suite reflects the character of that monarch,” he says. “Sometimes just changing the finish of a fabric, a wall color, or a light fixture gives you the aura of a different reign.” Bespoke furnishings allowed the designer to further explore hybrids of old and new. A barrel chair, deeply comfortable, might stand on Chippendale legs.
Caption: A geometric rug grounds this Paris salon by Deniot, where sculpture abounds and even the seating options have unexpected and artful silhouettes.
With this masterpiece set to be completed in 2026, Deniot likes to imagine the future of Cambridge House long after its doors have opened. “I hope the work is respected enough that one day it becomes listed,” he says. “That is to say that it remains unchanged and ultimately landmarked.”
Still, the ultimate litmus test of a successful and authentic reinvention is perhaps Deniot’s own stamp of approval—and that, Cambridge House has. “I don’t know why,” he says, “but, even as a Frenchman, I feel very at home here.”
