He’s long maintained an impressively plump portfolio of bespoke luxury homes from the U.K. to the south of France to Atlanta — that’s right, Atlanta! — to Beverly Hills.
And now, according to the Rocket Man himself, in a recent interview with The Globe and Mail, Elton John and his Canadian husband David Furnish have ponied up an unknown sum for a unique penthouse atop the not yet completed King Toronto development in Toronto’s downtown core. According to John, the couple and their children spend a great deal of each summer in Canada visiting Furnish’s family and, hence, the need for a proper pied-a-terre in the Great White North.
Taking inspiration from groundbreaking architectural wonders both near and far, including Maison de Verre in Paris and Montreal’s Habitat 67, King Toronto was envisioned by innovative Danish architect Bjarke Ingels with the aim to become a defining cultural monument for Toronto and the King Street West neighborhood. The goal, according to marketing materials, was to realize a complex that fulfilled the notion of gesamtkunkswerk, a German word that translates as “a total work of art.”
The six penthouses that cap the undulating complex’s four corners were conceived to be like living on a mountaintop, but in the heart of a cosmopolitan city. Each of the tree and foliage enshrouded mountaintops were inspired by a unique theme, with the penthouses serving as private sanctuaries that overlook Toronto’s bustling streetscape and dynamic skyline.
The penthouse John and Furnish have reportedly picked up, dubbed “The Treehouse,” is nestled discreetly atop the west corner of the vast complex. According to marketing materials created by the Canada-based developer Westbank, the western mountaintop uses light as its theme and the great swoops and curves of Eero Saarinen’s futuristic TWA terminal at New York’s JFK as inspiration.
