Photographs by Nikolas Koenig

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In some homes, the master bathroom is an after­thought, or at least not the main thought. But here, on the top floor of countess and entrepreneur Elisabeth de Kergorlay’s four-story West Village townhouse, it’s the pièce de résistance. “A beautiful bathroom is one of the ultimate luxuries in life,” says the Belgian-raised De Kergorlay. “Doing the room completely in marble seemed to reflect that.” Before she and her son moved in five years ago, the entire house was gut-renovated by architect Olivier Gagnère, a process that involved reinforcing the floor so it could handle the weight of the Calacatta gold marble imported from Carrara, Italy. The plumbing was also rejiggered so that hot water could flow directly beneath the tiles, preventing après-bath cold feet. The enamel cast-iron tub faces an EcoSmart fireplace fueled by bioethanol and abuts a glass-walled shower with a Dornbacht showerhead. Decadent bathing rituals aside, De Kergorlay, who is in the midst of launching an upscale frozen-food line called Babeth’s Feast, really treats the 450-square-foot bathroom as an extension of her bedroom, reclining in a chair by the window and listening to French radio on the built-in ­Sonos speakers in the early morning. Says De Kergorlay, “This room is about having a place of quiet, beauty, and light.”

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• Archive: “Great Room”
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