'Sanctuaries in the sky': 10 of the world's most stunning penthouses

The penthouse is an iconic signifier of wealth in our culture – but what are its essential design and architectural elements? From a luxe haven with dizzying ocean vistas to the highest private home on the US west coast, these sky-high masterworks of design are among the most breathtaking ever built.

The high-achieving characters in popular culture – from The Wolf of Wall Street to Succession – all have their status confirmed by occupying a particular type of real estate. It is that niche subcategory, the penthouse.

The audience knows instinctively that anyone living in such a dwelling must have reached the top of the tree. These people are not of our world, and literally look down on us.

And like its occupants, the term penthouse has also gone up in the world. Nowadays, it connotes a big apartment on the top floors of a high-rise. But in the 14th Century it started life as a much humbler structure, a mere lean-to shed attached to an existing wall – the word derives from the Old French apentis, meaning appendage.

The elitist glamour found in the penthouse of today is epitomised not just by needing to press the top button in the lift – or more likely, get into your own private lift – but by double-height ceilings, and huge rooms with unobstructed views through vast windows.

Away from film and TV depictions, these trophy assets are also people's homes. So, as well as screaming palatial, they also need to have a sense of intimacy.

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How can penthouses ever feel homely? One trick involves managing all that lateral space. Rather than breaking it all up into a succession of smaller rooms and ruining the drama of those long sightlines, well-designed penthouses instead have ingenious zoning.

"This zoning can be created using furniture, colour, texture, screens, room purpose and so on," says Peter Martin, author of new book Penthouse, which showcases some of the world's most stunning contemporary penthouses.

The ones that successfully mix spectacle with bijou moments achieve something paradoxical, Martin tells the BBC. "They are elevated symbols of status, yet also personal sanctuaries in the sky."

What design elements make a great penthouse? Here are 10 examples of lofty perfection.

1. 111 West 57th Street Penthouse, New York City 

This duplex is on the 76th floor of the iconic Steinway Tower, a structure made up of the restored 1925 Steinway Hall and a new 1,428ft (435m) skyscraper. Design firm Banda set about creating an interior that resonated with both the historic hall and the towering newcomer. A stand-out feature is the freestanding shiny silver bathtub that allows the bather to peer down on to Central Park through a wall of glass. "It suggests glamour, decadence and even exhibitionism, while remaining on the right side of good taste," Martin says.

2. Residence 113, Central Park Tower, New York City

This five-bedroom, 7,074-sq-ft (657-sq-m) home by Extell is in the tallest residential building in the Americas. In the main living space, the ceiling is so high that the grand piano looks dwarfed. In contrast, this bedroom suggests relative normality, Martin says, "except it is anything but normal, being surrounded on two sides by an incredible Manhattan panorama".

That tension between the room's serenity, highlighted by the gentle curve of the sofa, and the drama of the view is exciting, "and harnessing that tension is what penthouse design is all about".

3. 53 West 53 Penthouse, New York City

The 1,050ft (320m) tower is a stone's throw from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and, in reference to that neighbour, its lower floors are given over to a MoMA gallery space.

Upstairs, penthouse 78, designed by Jean Nouvel and Thierry Despont, is 7,455-sq-ft (693-sq-m) and takes up the entirety of the 78th and 79th floors.

This big bathroom plays with its corner views. "The duality of the double bathroom is an ingenious way of amplifying the double-aspect panorama," Martin says. 

He sees this room as creating "a frisson through the vertiginous combination of the iconic view, the slanted windows, and a honed sense of the unusual conjured through glass, mirror, glossy surfaces and an underlying modernist geometry, highlighted by the use of the mid-century Scandinavian chair".

4. One Hyde Park, London

Sitting in Knightsbridge, the One Hyde Park Penthouse is one of the most valuable properties in the capital. "The building itself symbolises the dizzying early-21st-Century London property boom like no other," Martin says. Spread over two floors, the 18,000-sq-ft (1672-sq-m) home by Candy & Candy has glass walls on three sides and looks over the city's famous park.

The showstopper here is the living room. "Hyde Park has a totemic place in London's psyche, and the triple-aspect, double-storey windows overlooking it at tree-canopy level are the defining feature of this space," adds Martin. As for the relatively subdued furniture and décor, they're meant to accentuate, and not compete with, the three glass walls, the sky and that view.

5. One Palm Penthouse, Dubai

The aim here of designer Elicyon was to create a sanctuary in the sky, and the interiors of the 20,000-sq-ft (1858-sq-m) duplex seem to float in the air. The muted colour palette and smart-but-comfy decorative style give a nod to the city below and coastline beyond.

The living room is all about bold, assertive geometry, rectangular columns and acres of glass. "Counterbalancing – though also accentuating – the modernist lines are the sculptural curved staircase and the cloud-like chandelier above," Martin says.

6. The Bryanston, Hyde Park Penthouse, London 

Looming 250ft (76m) above Hyde Park, this 7,763-sq-ft (721.2-sq-m) penthouse has a 1,403-sq-ft (130.3-sq-m) roof terrace and was designed by Rafael Viñoly. It takes up the building's top three levels, each one linked by a private lift and a sweeping marble staircase.

"The penthouse statement in the living room is the sweeping curved facade, with the window that follows the curve without support columns," Martin says.

The room's furniture, rug and lighting also have something curvaceous about them. But they make a second point – that a luxurious space doesn't need to be filled to the brim. "So, this room is as notable for what's not in it as for what is," he adds.

He points out the pleasing 1960s-style touches, which come from the curtains and the window height – unusual for a penthouse in that it's wide but not floor-to-ceiling – the pendant light, and also the sunset yellow walls. "The colour heightens the sense that this is a room with everlasting sunsets," Martin says.

7. K11 Artus Penthouse, Hong Kong

This relatively small 3,464-sq-ft (322-sq-m) apartment looks over Victoria Harbour and the city of Hong Kong. Joyce Wang Studio has played with that sometimes overlooked room, the kitchen. "It brilliantly capitalises on the cosy aspect of penthouse design, with its wraparound windows giving a thrilling juxtaposition between the mundanity of everyday tasks such as cooking or making coffee, and the extraordinary vantage point overlooking the harbour," Martin says.  

8. 181 Fremont the Grande Penthouse, San Francisco

More than 700ft (213m) above the city, the Grande Penthouse is reputedly the highest private home on the western seaboard of the US. After riding up in a private elevator from the lobby, one is met by an elegant, mid-century-inspired foyer.

This is one of four bedroom suites, its corner position giving views over the bay of San Francisco from two sides. However, the focal point is the walnut corner unit and its embedded TV. "This room projects its penthouse energy by suggesting that its dazzling views are of secondary importance here," Martin says. "At the same time, the chaise (with no back to block the vista) is a giveaway that this is still not a view to be messed with."

9. Cape Town Penthouse, South Africa

Located on Cape Town's coast, this 5,800-sq-ft (539-sq-m) apartment has a panoramic living room that is dramatic without being cluttered. "Other than the sunken seating area, there is a heroic lack of furniture in this room – it's a space that doesn't need to say 'penthouse' through decor as it's implicit through the extraordinary location and architecture," Martin says. For him, designer Miminat Shodeinde is completely fearless here in her use of stone, scale and space.

10. Showcase Residence, Hong Kong

Picking up on Hong Kong's topographic similarity to Brazil, the designer Joyce Wang Studio brought in mid-century classics from the South American country, and combined them with local wood and planting. The effect is to big up the relationship between the interiors and the greenery outside.

"It's a different approach to that used in other penthouses, and it succeeds," Martin says.

"This is a room which doesn't give all its secrets away at once. Joyce Wang's use of detailed ceiling materials, varied textures and glass screens creates mystery – the alluring sense that there is more here to discover." 

Penthouse by Peter Martin is published by Cultural Union.

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