GRAND ALLUSION

Wealthy cities tend to get remade, frequently and boldly, and Milan is undoubtedly a child of this type of reinvention. The collision of industry, artistry, and finance has created a layered urban archaeology that jumps from Roman to Renaissance to postmodern.
So when ELLE DECOR A-List architect Hannes Peer first saw his client's second-floor apartment in Milan's center, it felt like a rare opportunity. The homeowner, Francesco Dagnino, a lawyer and single father of two young children, pushed the designer to be daring in his renovation of the three-bedroom home. "I am easily bored," Dagnino says. Peer agreed that the space, in the bustling Brera neighborhood, needed a new start, and embarked on a gut renovation.
The change begins in the bold entry, where movable walls of Roman travertine are paired with a bas-relief artwork by Ursula Huber, who happens to be Peer's mother. The Palladiana terrazzo floor was the only remaining element from before the renovation-when the space was the client's law office and even that was ripped up and reinstalled.
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KEEPING UP with FRICKS
When robber baron Henry Clay Frick built his Fifth Avenue mansion in 1914, it set off a competitive frenzy among the era’s top decorators.

SÃO PAULO AT HIS FEET
Shoe designer Alexandre Birman worked with a local interior design team to weave Brazilian modernism, Art Deco flair, Roman hospitality, and his own peripatetic calendar into a serene apartment in the sky.

HIS EMPIRE STATE
They call him the King. In Manhattan, Giorgio Armani reigns from a recently renovated historic apartment with his signature sprezzatura and an only-in-New-York view.

THE WAY THE LIGHT HITS
In East Hampton, Julie Hillman creates a four-season house for her family that plays with sun and shadow—and finds her calling as an interior designer in the process.

BIOGRAPHY OF A ROOM
When I was at boarding school in New Zealand, I had a photo of the Temple on the wall of my room,” Veere Grenney recalls.

THIS CORNER OF THE WORLD
Every house has that one spot that becomes its center of gravity, doesn't it? This month, designer Sheila Bridges shares the space that helps her enjoy the great outdoors, indoors.

Those Chic MILANESE
When Piero Portaluppi was your great-grandfather, everywhere in this city feels like home. But sometimes you need to leave the nest to make one of your own.

WOULD YOU WEAR THIS ROOM?
Fashion designer and serial renovator Amélie Dian brings her stylish eye to the design of an 18th-century apartment in the heart of Paris.

CONCRETE PLANS
In a historic Black community in Sag Harbor, Delia Kenza builds on her family's legacy to create a personal retreat filled with meaning and her own modern style.

LIVE HERE FIRST
When designer Ben Pentreath moved into a Georgian house on a remote island in Scotland, he did what he thinks everyone should do first: nothing.