A contemporary home in London primed for a prized art collection has hit the market for £6.75 million (US$8.4 million).
Tucked away in Mayfair, one of the city’s most affluent enclaves, the house was designed by the acclaimed minimalist architect John Pawson in 1987 and has served as the home and blank canvas for two prominent patrons of contemporary art, first Doris Lockhart Saatchi, and most recently, the late Chicago collector and finance executive Ralph I. Goldenberg.
The three-story house is “a masterpiece of minimalist architecture and one of less than half a dozen private homes that the architect has designed around the world,” said Peter Wetherell, founder and executive chairman of Wetherell, the estate agency which brought the home to the market last week.
“There is truly no other artistic residence like this in Mayfair,” Wetherell said. “We believe it will appeal to other art patrons who want a home which has been specially designed to display art collections including large art installations.”
Boasting cool, uncluttered living spaces with stone slab flooring, it’s no wonder the three-bedroom home’s dramatic interiors have lent themselves to displaying art collections.
Goldenberg, the co-founder of Chicago-based stock clearing house Goldenberg, Hehmeyer & Co., acquired the home in 2000, and showcased pieces by big-name artists like Willem DeKooning, Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol. He died at age 87 in July 2022.
“For my father … there was a perfect symbiotic relationship between the Pawson house, an iconic piece of minimalist architecture and his art collection,” his daughter Jane Goldenberg said in a news release.
“As a collector, he was increasingly drawn to minimalist works of art and the Pawson house served as the perfect showcase for his vision. Hopefully the next owner will serve as the privileged custodian of this important example of Mayfair’s contemporary architectural heritage,” she added.
Throughout the house, there are built-in minimalist finishes and furnishings created by Pawson—who has designed homes for Calvin Klein and Karl Lagerfeld and art galleries in London, Dublin and New York.
There’s the contemporary handle-free front door; the white marble basins in the bathrooms; the wood and cement dining table; and in the kitchen, the built-in stainless steel central island that’s flanked by a wall of white folding cupboards designed to keep spaces and surfaces clutter free.
The home also boats a garage, a patio garden and a roof terrace.
Along with his home, the art collection Goldenberg exhibited there will also be offered for sale this summer.
About 80 pieces will be auctioned in late June at Sotheby’s in London for in excess of £13 million.
A major offering includes Robert Ryman’s “Unfinished Painting,” 1965, being sold for at least £1.5 million. When on display in the Mayfair home, the appearance of the piece would change based on how sunlight was being filtered into the property on a given day.
