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.
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Image Credit: Westbank Renderings of the almost 2,400-square-foot unit show light oak floorboards, custom brass detailing, a sinuous floating staircase that makes a sculptural curl between the two floors, and chalky white Venetian plaster walls that enhance the light that floods in through vast windows and walls of glass block.
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Image Credit: Westbank The three-bedroom and three-bathroom unit takes its name from the mature tree that will grow out of a circular carved travertine planter and up through a double-height atrium. The interplay between the interior, exterior, sky, skyline and tree creates an arresting and almost otherworldly view.
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Image Credit: Westbank Faced in brass, the kitchen cabinets add a warmth and luster to the open plan living/dining space that opens to two of the penthouse’s four lushly planted terraces. There are two more terraces, one with a spa, located off the main bedroom on the upper floor.
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Image Credit: Westbank Unsurprisingly, King Toronto offers its residents myriad services and numerous recreation and leisure options. In addition to the ground floor shops and restaurants that ring the exterior and line the meandering interior courtyard, there’s a huge sun terrace that wraps around a communal party room, a fitness and yoga space, a board room, and an indoor lap pool and hot tub.
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The penthouse is not scheduled to be completed until sometime next year, but certainly the John-Furnishes have no shortage of houses they call home, many of which have been featured in Architectural Digest. Since the 1970s, John has made his home base in the U.K., a lavishly landscaped 35-plus-acre country estate in Old Windsor.
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Set amid thick woods and manicured gardens, John’s getaway in the south of France occupies several acres atop Mount Boron, high above Nice.
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The proverbial Yellow Brick Road led John to Atlanta, where he’s maintained a mansion-sized duplex condominium 36 floors above the Buckhead neighborhood since the 1990s.
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John and Furnish acquired the first of their side-by-side midcentury homes in Beverly Hills about a decade ago, for $7.25 million, and last year shelled out another $8.5 million for the fixer upper next door.