Between 1908 and 1910, the architects Luigi and Cesare Mazzocchi designed the building as a repository for the Gondrand transport company founded in Milan in 1866 by brothers François and Clement Gondrand.
Gondrand made a name for itself in the removals sector by means of vanguard solutions and the invention of new transport systems, swiftly passing from horse-drawn transport to the rail-route system of anchoring railway wagons without the need for transhipment.
In 1998, after the renovation by architect Marco Zanuso, the ex-Palazzo Gondrand changed hands to become maison Ferré, the temple of Milanese fashion in the ‘90s. Subsequently, it was purchased by the Italian fashion company Kiton which inaugurated the palazzo as its refurbished headquarters at the beginning of 2014.
The four-storey building houses the company’s offices and a gigantic 625m2 hall with lofty ceilings that is used for fashion shows. The façade, with its large windows and wide entry points that disclose its past use as a warehouse, features an innovative combination of ornamental art nouveau and modern building technologies with the use of reinforced concrete.
