Page 37 - Reside Magazine Briggs Freeman

Reside — Fall 2025

reimagined classic games such as tic-
tac-toe, checkers and backgammon.
Sotheby’s sold a box set of ‘chess and
go’ by the Swiss watchmaker Vacheron
Constantin for nearly double the high
estimate in October 2024. In the same
month in London, traditional games
specialist Purling staged an exhibition
of chess sets designed by artists
including Sophie Matisse, great- In the frame
granddaughter of Henri Matisse.
Interior designer Katharine There are penthouse apartments
Pooley, founder of her eponymous and then there is The Solarium
British design studio, says bespoke Penthouse, arguably the crown jewel
pieces are key to her games room of 555 WEA, a luxury condo building
projects. Both she and Fox commission on Manhattan’s Upper West Side,
custom designs from the luxury board which was converted from an
game designer Alexandra Llewellyn. architecturally signi‰cant Catholic

Pooley’s recent design for a lower- schoolhouse in 2018. The Solarium
ground-floor games area at Château occupies what was once the school’s
de la Croix des Gardes in Cannes, gymnasium, with a vaulted ceiling
a Belle Époque property that featured that soars to 19 feet in the main living
in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1955 film “To Catch a Thief,” divides the space into three area. From here, an ornate full wall
sections: the first has a snooker table and hand-painted wallpaper depicting of glass opens onto a private terrace,
a scene from the movie; the middle part accommodates a TV and lounge space ideally suited to alfresco dining.
for relaxation and conversation; and the third section features a bar and poker Several ’oors down sits the building’s

table. There is also an adjoining bowling alley. Pooley describes the games room new gym, lit with natural light and
entrance—a large, heavy door once used for a bank vault—as “a bit of paired with a sleek and stylish
a party piece.” She says individuality is important to creating a successful communal games room featuring
games room, carefully considering the client and “what they like to play.” a designer pool table, darts board
Photos: Richard Pickavance; Laure Joliet. Courtesy Electric Bowery; Kensington Leverne. Courtesy
Everyone’s taste is different. A colorful games room by Charlotte Lucas and wet bar. Just the spot to indulge
Design for a home in Raleigh, North Carolina, features a table for jigsaw puzzles in some after-work potting practice
and a custom shuffleboard from New York brand Blatt Billiards. LA-based 11 before sinking into a lounge chair
Ravens handcrafts made-to-order games furniture for luxury interiors and has for a refreshment or two.
Studio Ashby; Courtesy 11 Ravens and Kristin Paton Interiors; Chris Edwards.
collaborated with Italian tailor Rubinacci on pieces including a pool table that
converts into a dining table. And in Studio Ashby’s sensitive yet playful overhaul
of a parkside home in London, a pair of upholstered Chess Swivel Chairs by
Sister—designer Sophie Ashby’s retail line—are not only inspired by the
shape of chess pieces, but provide the perfect seating for the game.
Pooley has noticed an uptick in requests for games rooms since the
pandemic, which she attributes to people spending more time at home and
wanting to entertain. “They can be themselves,” she says. “If you go to a club
or a restaurant, there are so many more restrictions.”
But while games rooms are enjoying new popularity, they reflect an age-
old desire for play and togetherness. Many of the pastimes people are US$18,000,000
Property ID: 4DS2QY
accommodating in their homes now are ones that have entertained for sothebysrealty.com
generations. “There’s a real timelessness to having a space that you can enjoy Sotheby’s International Realty – East Side
playing games in,” says Fox. 0 Manhattan Brokerage
Cathy Taub
Kate Youde is a London-based art, design and luxury writer +1 917 855 8466

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