In the 1980s, when Nasser Nakib was a junior architect working in Soho, he used to slip over to Bond Street on his lunch breaks just to stand on the cobblestones. “In Provence you’re in a lavender field and you think, I could die happy here,” he says. “In New York, this block is it for me.”

The former industrial loft dates back to 1900 and has been converted into a 2-bedroom apartment featuring a soaring glass roof by French engineer Gustave Eiffel.

Surrounded by jungle, the property is set in the up-and-coming residential area of La Valeta, just 1km from downtown Tulum and 5km from the beach.