Elegance at Eighty-Eight

“Besides being beautiful, it’s a useable room,” says Topol of the home’s living area, where a generously sized coffee table is just as apt to showcase treasured collectibles as it is to serve up drinks and d’oeuvres. “We worked from a palette that was easy to live with, and art-like the Tim Murphy piece over the demilune cabinet—becomes part of it.”

A stylish Century desk and Mariette Himes Gomez chair, illuminated by a pair of dramatic floor lamps, fashion an efficient home.

He describes the kitchen as a “little jewel box,” complete with a sparkling glass wall that allows more light to filter into the space. Kitchen floral designs by Jackson Durham.

“One of the great things about this apartment is that, with two tables in the dining room, you can serve a small dinner for four or a larger party of eight, even 12 by having the hotel finish it,” Topol observes. “I love the idea of living this kind of life. It’s such an easy way to live. And living well is the best revenge!”

Throughout the residence, red-orange accents catapult the otherwise subdued neutral scheme into the stratosphere apropos for high-rise living.

The neutral palette in the master bedroom and throughout the residence works beautifully, thanks in large part to Topol’s philosophy: He doesn’t blend colors; he matches exactly. “Everybody ‘plays’ with color, but we don’t mess with it,” he says. “A neutral room quickly becomes boring if the colors are off.” Bedroom floral designs by Jackson Durham.

It’s no coincidence that this chaise is perfectly sized for a niche in the master bedroom. One of Topol’s hard-and-fast rules is that you must measure religiously so there are no surprises.

The well-appointed master bath is an oasis of luxury.

Stan Topol and Reynolds Brown of Stan Topol & Associates represent the firm’s teamwork approach to design.

When Stan Topol & Associates was asked to design a residential sales model at The St. Regis Atlanta Hotel and Residences, it was destined to be an extraordinary project. Not only because of the design firm’s premiere reputation nor the St. Regis’ prestigious Buckhead address near the crossroads of Atlanta—Peachtree and West Paces Ferry. It was just as much about the luxurious lifestyle that the property affords. Here, where personal service is the order of the day, the goal was to create, in Topol’s words, “a fabulous home in the sky.”

“Our first step was to create the best conceptual floorplan. We hand-draw and measure each inch to an exact scale,” says Topol. “In doing so, we were able to make a marvelous master suite with personal space and grand closets, and we created an entrance into the home with a major foyer. I love homes with a sense of arrival.”

The living room retains its grand scale—Topol and his team created a comfortable space in which to entertain, as well as another personal space in which to actually live, day in and day out. An entire wall in the kitchen was reconfigured with a sliding glass wall that allows Buckhead’s skyline views to infiltrate every room. “Although the space is just over 4,000 square feet,” Topol says, “you feel as though you are now in your own private penthouse with the services of a grand hotel.”

Working with associate Reynolds Brown, Topol then turned his attention to the overall style. “I’d call it soft contemporary,” he says. “It’s understated with just a touch of color, designed in a way that’s easy to live with. It’s all about comfort—and that is the ultimate luxury.”

Because the St. Regis celebrates the art of living well in Atlanta, Topol made a point of incorporating the best of the city’s resources, too, turning to companies such as Century, Manuel Canovas, Holly Hunt and Donghia (represented at the Atlanta Decorative Arts Center), as well as Charles Ray & Associates (at AmericasMart).

“We wanted to put together an Atlanta lifestyle,” he explains, “so it was important for us to use local craftsmen throughout.” Having called on the firm’s friends at Diamond Glass, as well as Connor Wallcovering, Moore Floor Covering, curtain guru Willard Pitt, Masdon Custom Cabinets and Design Galleria Kitchen & Bath Studio, the reach into the local pool of talent is evident throughout.

“The residences at The St. Regis represent the best in city living,” says Topol. “And we chose to embrace all facets of Atlanta into our design.”

Classic Redux
In February of 2011, the Tavistock Group acquired The St. Regis Atlanta Hotel and Residences, and they haven’t looked back since, implementing upgrades worthy of the property’s prestigious address. Taking the same tack as Stan Topol & Associates did with their model, Tavistock has looked to local talent to implement the changes, says Managing Director Douglas McMahon. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to tip our cap to how talented Atlanta is, how deep the talent pool is here,” says McMahon, who grew up in Sandy Springs himself. “Randy Korando and Dan Belman from Boxwoods did all of the landscaping, and we’ve enhanced the residential lobbies and garages with Stan Topol’s help. There are new elevator cabs, tufted-fabric walls in the lobbies and local artists featured throughout. We’ve even added new red awnings and red-and-white striped furniture at the pool and bar. The end result is a more sophisticated and warm space, more like a great European hotel; our benchmarks are neighborhoods like Kensington in London.” And that’s not all; an exciting new restaurant will soon call the St. Regis home. “Atlanta is big but still welcoming,” says McMahon, “we want to put a smart lens on Southern hospitality.”

INTERIOR DESIGN Stan Topol and Reynolds Brown, Stan Topol & Associates, (404) 885-9889; stantopol.com