There comes a point where it isn’t about how much money you’ve got in the bank, it’s about the access you have and the people you know. This is exactly what the grandeur-drenched private members club hotel of Fasano Fifth Avenue was set up to provide, but despite it being entirely off-limits to the public, you’ll still need pockets like the Mariana Trench with duplex apartments costing US$140,000 (AU$208,821) a month to enjoy.
The Fasano hospitality venture was born more than a century ago in São Paulo, Brazil, as a luxurious hotel off the Rua Oscar Freire retail strip known for serving up classic cocktails at its award-winning watering hole, Baretto. While anyone who wants to enjoy a meal at Fasano in São Paulo can simply walk through the wooden-panelled revolving doors, its New York City sibling isn’t quite as welcoming to your everyman, with the discreet and unadvertised entrance situated on Fifth Avenue between 62nd and 63rd streets.
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There’s a little less fanfare at Fasano Fifth Avenue, but that’s how the locals like it, just as much as they enjoy the spectacularly executed interior by the French architect Thierry Despont, who was responsible for the restoration of the Statue of Liberty and the fit-out of Gordon Ramsay’s famous London restaurant. Part hotel, part member-only club, New York’s Fasano branch is a towering pinnacle of luxuriousness, with its three-bedroom 3,600 square-feet apartments all designed by Despont and furnished with immaculate mid-century timber furniture (some of which have been sourced from the Fasano owner’s own collection).
With ten-foot ceilings, thickly draped curtains and walls covered in creamy Loro Piana cashmere, there really has been no expense spared in the two-level apartments at Fasano Fifth Avenue. However, if you’re hoping to see the inside of one of these apartments, membership is as difficult to come by as it is necessary to get through the front door. This makes the FAQ section of Fasano Fifth Avenue’s site quite a straightforward read, with the phrase, “only if you are a member,” a common answer.
Despite the wall of privacy that envelops the building at 815 5th Ave, New York, there are some publicly available details, including a listing on Douglas Elliman that offers an insight into what members can expect. So if you’re a regular visitor to New York City and the Mandarin Oriental or The Ritz-Carlton New York (also designed by Despont) aren’t cutting the mustard, perhaps the team at Fasano Fifth Avenue can provide what you’re after.
