French Evolution

One maison's elegant new flagship brings design ingenuity and Parisian panache to a historic corner of Madison Avenue.

- By Sean Santiago

If heaven is a place on earth, luxury acolytes will surely find it on the top floor of New York City's new Hermès flagship. Here, guests are greeted by a domed ceiling composed of 20 bas-relief panels-based on ink drawings by the French artist François Houtin-each of which took more than 100 hours to create; they had to be installed on-site with a custom-made lifting cradle. The result is as much an engineering marvel as it is a testament to the artistic integrity of this famed luxury brand and that's before you notice the exquisite leather goods beneath it.

At approximately 45,000 square feet, 706 Madison Avenue is one of the largest Hermès outposts in the world. The store is, in fact, three buildings combined: a neo-Federal-style landmark bank building from 1921 flanked by townhouses. It sits just up the block from the former Hermès flagship, closed this year, a roughly 20,000-squarefoot space that had served the brand since 2000.