A penthouse apartment in New York. After seeing so many in films and TV shows featuring the Big Apple, it's almost a cliche.
Indeed, the very concept of aspiring to life in the clouds – the modern world's equivalent to Mount Olympus – is such a part of American popular culture that it even inspired the name of, ahem, a popular men's magazine.
(Or so we're told.)
But never before have we seen a penthouse apartment quite like this one. Located in the heart of Manhattan, at 432 Park Avenue, this 92nd-floor living space is currently the highest living space New York City can offer, at 1,224ft above the traffic.
It boasts panoramic views of nearly every New York City landmark: the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge and New York Harbour stretching out to the Atlantic Ocean.
The interior has been style by Kelly Behun, who drew inspiration from the 10ft square windows specified by architect Rafael Viñoly: "To have all of Manhattan unfurl below you in this way is nothing short of extraordinary," said Kelly. "Nothing I would do inside could ever upstage that, so I just sought to create a warm embrace from which to enjoy it.”
Though it runs to just under 4,000 square feet, the apartment has just three bedrooms to go along with its three bathrooms, a powder room, library, gas and wood-burning fireplace, laundry room, service entrance separate from the elevator landing and formal entrance gallery.
The master bathroom features marble flooring and walls, a freestanding soaking tub and a solid cubic Bianco Sivec marble vanity that weighs a staggering 1,200lbs – just over half a tonne.
Not that you'll be looking at the vanity when you could be sitting in the bath and looking out at this view:
As with all the apartments at 432 Park Avenue – which is the tallest residential building in the western hemisphere – it has 12’6” ceilings to make the most of the buildings 10-foot by 10-foot windows.
From the outside, those windows give the entire building a slightly unusual, almost lattice-work look. Of course, that matters little: this is a building that is all about being inside and looking out, rather than outside looking in.
Away from the penthouse itself, the building boasts 30,000 square feet of communal amenities. All the usual things you'd expect are in place – the gym, the private cinema – but there are some more unusual offerings such as a billiards room, library, executive boardroom, and a private restaurant helmed by Michelin-starred chef Shaun Hergatt.
The apartment is on the market at $39.75 million – or £32.5 million at present exchange rates. More information is available at 432parkavenue.com.
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