An Exclusive First Look at the World’s Ultimate Resort Villa

In the December 2007 issue of Robb Report, senior correspondent Jack Smith reported on a new crop of over-the-top suites crowning Manhattan’s premier hotels.  Setting the standard for this elite assemblage was the Ty Warner Penthouse at the Four Seasons Hotel New York, a nine-room, 4,300-square-foot extravagance that Smith described as the “most dazzling . . . and expensive” suite in the world.

Nine years later, Warner is at it again.  This time, however, the billionaire best known as the creator of Beanie Babies is bringing his flair for the dramatic to the beaches of Baja California.  In addition to the Four Seasons New York, Warner is the proud owner of one of Mexico’s—and the world’s—finest coastal resorts, Las Ventanas al Paraíso, on the Baja peninsula’s Los Cabos corridor.  This July, the Rosewood-managed retreat will unveil its new La Mansión del Señor Warner, a $35,000-per-night villa that promises to do for resort rooms what the Four Seasons Penthouse did for city suites.

“Mr. Warner said, ‘I have the best hotel penthouse in the world,’ ” says Frédéric Vidal, managing director of Las Ventanas. “  ‘Now I want the best hotel villa in the world.’ ”

In this Robb Report exclusive, we take the first look at this unmatched accommodation, which spans 22,500 square feet from its vertical-garden courtyard entrance to its 328-foot-long, 136,000-gallon private wraparound infinity pool overlooking the Sea of Cortez.  Throughout the estate, a team that included Vidal, local architect Jorge Torres, and New York–based interior designer Robert Couturier saw to it that Warner’s vision was executed down to the very last square inch.

Window to Paradise

After entering through a carved wooden door conceptualized by Warner and designed by Torres, guests of La Mansión stroll past a reflecting pool and below a retractable sunroof before descending to the great room.  Las Ventanas al Paraíso’s name translates as “The Windows to Paradise,” a motif that is magnified by the room’s wall of sliding glass doors.  Brilliantly white concrete frames the view, rising and curving to a 20-foot-high domed ceiling that encapsulates the villa’s unconventional style.  “It has elements of Moorish architecture,” Torres says, “but also refers to Mexico’s Pacific areas of Costa Careyes and Puerto Vallarta.”

Couturier designed the room’s sofas and chairs, which are upholstered in silks from India.  The wooden dragon is by the Oaxacan artist Claudio Ojeda Morales.  Holding it all up is what might be La Mansión’s masterwork: a hand-laid floor made from approximately 7.5 million white-marble tiles.

Sip and Dine

Flanking the great room are the villa’s dining and tequila rooms, each an elegant nook for enjoying the bounty of Mexico.  Meals prepared by La Mansión’s dedicated chef can be served on a dining table by the San Miguel de Allende–based tinsmith Cecilio Hernandez, who also surfaced the ceiling and chairs in silver leaf.  “Mr. Warner likes to imagine a mansion like a succession of jewelry boxes,” Vidal says.  “Every room is a new kind of material.  Every room is a discovery.”

The villa’s butler can prepare postprandial cocktails from the tequila room’s cache of premium spirits, which includes Clase Azul Ultra and Don Julio Real.  In an eternal state of salud, the room’s wooden catrina doll is by Ojeda Morales and painted by his wife, Teresita González Marín.

Master of the Villa

One of La Mansión’s two identically sized guest rooms, the master bedroom features a colorful mix of creations by Couturier (chairs, carpet) and various Mexican artisans.  The wooden dragon is by the Oaxacan artist Lucila Sosa; the silver-leaf-covered fireplace and mirror—which stands more than 11 feet tall—is by San Miguel de Allende’s Hernandez; and the Talavera lamps are from the Talavera Vázquez ceramics company in the Guanajuato town of Dolores Hidalgo.  Overall, the master-bedroom suite spans more than 1,500 square feet, a space that includes an adjoining private gym and a lap pool–topped bathroom.

Overhead Pool

Warner came up with the idea to build a lap pool above the master bathroom—after the bathroom was built.  “We had to demolish the whole room and rebuild it completely, to the ground,” Torres recalls.  The pool is part of a sprawling rooftop that also includes a plunge pool, a bar, an Indian-silk-laden bed, an outdoor pool table, a spa-treatment area, and a putting green.  On the ground floor, just outside the bathroom, a lawn stretches past a chess set to a hot tub that has been carved from a rocky ridge just above the beach.  The bathroom itself draws ample light from the rooftop pool and the large windows that go opaque for privacy at the touch of a button.  The room’s various works include a vase by the renowned Oaxacan artist Vicente Hernandez Vasquez.

Casual Gatherings

Vidal cites the kitchen and the master bedroom’s palapa-covered patio as two of La Mansión’s best spots for casual gatherings.  “You can go and sit down in the kitchen and have a drink while the chef makes some quesadillas, tacos, tamales,” he says.  “You can ask for anything you want, anytime.”

The patio’s pair of 16.5-foot-long sofas offer an ideal setting for afternoon chips, guacamole, and margaritas.  Should guests retire to the area after dinner, they might be handed a metal control box that, with the push of a button, launches a fitting finale to a few days in paradise: a private fireworks show on La Mansión’s beach.

Las Ventanas al Paraíso, a Rosewood Resort, rosewoodhotels.com; Robert Couturier, robert couturier.com; Jorge Torres, Cabo Development, cabo-development.com 

For a closer look at La Mansión del Señor Warner, including exclusive videos and additional photos, visit RobbReport.com/LasVentanasVilla.

SOURCE: Robb Report
POSTED: June 21, 2016
AUTHOR: Bruce Wallin