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Luxury Real Estate - The
Truth About Penthouses
By Michael
O'Flynn
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| Climb
to the very top of the property ladder, step off that final, elevated rung
and the chances are you'll find yourself walking into the ultimate symbol
of wealth, power, and social sophistication: the penthouse apartment.... |
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The
dictionary may define a penthouse as "a structure or dwelling built on
the roof of a tall building" but this hardly does justice to the glamorous,
indeed, decadent associations normally conjured up by the word. High-rise
living it certainly brings to mind but it also inspires visions of extravagant
wealth and Platinum card exclusivity. Think stretch limos and private Lear
jets. Think caviar and champagne. Think Crown Princes, power brokers and
corporate Masters of the Universe.
The penthouse,
in short, is the architectural expression of unsurpassable success: in
terrestrial - not to mention residential - terms this is as definitely
as high as you can go. Literally, and symbolically, you've reached the
top. Next stop, presumably, is Nirvana. |
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| We now take all of these
aspirational associations for granted but in truth the penthouse owes more
to the invention of the safety elevator than it does to the demands of
the seriously wealthy for a premium perch.
Before the invention of the lift,
the penthouse really was "a structure or dwelling built on the roof of
a tall building". A fairly humble structure at that: it was a long slow
climb to the top, so roofs were kept for laundry houses, washing lines,
water towers, servants' quarters and the like. |
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But once it became possible to whisk
plutocrats from the ground floor into the heavens top floors acquired a
whole new significance. The invention of the lift was crucial to the development
of the skyscraper and this in turn led to mansions in the sky for the moneyed
elite.
The first were in America - in high-rise
Chicago and New York. In 1925, Marjorie Merriweather Post Hutton commissioned
a spectacular 54-room triplex apartment on top of a 14-floor building on
Fifth Avenue, New York.
It had a silver room, a wine room,
a cold storage room for furs and flowers, and lavish suites of rooms. A
private lift ran down to the ground floor, where a concierge was on hand:
a new residential form had been born.
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Until quite recently
London was not the first, or even the second choice, for your serious penthouse
devotee. If you wanted a city apartment with a commanding view Manhattan
had plenty to offer but London came up rather short.
Now, however, high-rise enthusiasts
have a lot more to attract them. A number of dramatic new towers are planned
for London Bridge, Paddington, Elephant & Castle, and Canary Wharf,
and some fine developments in Docklands and along the Thames offer high-rise
magnificence to rival the best. |
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Peter Walker, who works for PR company
TTA, which has many of the UK's top developers on its books, reckons these
are heady days for the penthouse here. "In the past, the thought and attention
hasn't really gone into them here as much as in the US, but that's changing.
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"There's a move towards
high-rise development in London and developers have started to make a serious
effort with the penthouse. Ballymore are a good example. They worked with
a top American architect - Skidmore Owings & Merrill - to create New
Providence Wharf, which has some of the most remarkable penthouses in London."
At New Providence the penthouses
came with 3,000 sq ft of internal space and up to 3,700 sq ft of terracing
complete with saunas, grass gardens, and the real showstopper, private
heated swimming pools. |
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"With penthouses, says Peter, "they
don't sell off plan - they're living spaces and people want to see them
and walk around before they part with vast sums. But at New Providence
- because they were different and exceptional - they sold five off-plan
of the seven."
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Ballymore has recently
been granted planning permission to build Europe's tallest residential
development at 1 Millharbour, in London Docklands - 700 apartments located
in two interlinking towers rising to 36 and 50 storeys.
They will, says Peter, be working
hard to top their New Providence penthouses, and are already in informal
talks with prospective buyers such as Donald Trump. "The cachet that comes
with living in Europe's tallest building will be considerable," says Peter. |
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"We expect that the penthouses will
sell for around £10 million. The apartments will be amongst the most
luxurious to be launched on to the London market and will be aimed at Docklands'
executives and international business professionals.
"The scheme will offer a range of
hotel-style services including valet parking and a 24-hour concierge who
will be able to arrange everything from dry cleaning to dinner parties.
Work begins in Autumn of 2005 and the development is scheduled for completion
in 2009."
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| But what of those who
can't wait that long and don't want to live in Docklands? If penthouse
for you means high-rise there's always the Barbican. "There are three penthouses
per tower over two or three floors," says Mark Harrison of Frank Harris
and Company. "In one tower the penthouse is a triplex laid out of the 37th,
38th, and 39th floors with conservatory at the top. The views are spectacular.
St Paul's looks like a village church." Riverside development has also
been a major trend in recent years and there are some spectacular developments
- notably Richard Roger's Montevetro in Battersea: 20 storeys topped by
seriously extravagant penthouses with floor to ceiling glazing that makes
the most of the views. |
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In the more prestigious central
London neighbourhoods such as Knightsbridge and Mayfair, high-rise developments
are a no-no, but that doesn't mean penthouses are non-existent.
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Mansion blocks, the
first apartment buildings in the UK, provide luxury living with a degree
of period grandeur, while their flat roofs have provided developers with
the opportunity to construct prefabricated penthouse pods that sell for
millions - Swedish company First Penthouse are the leaders in this particular
sector.
One-off architect designed penthouses
have also become a feature of the London market - for one of the most eye-catching
check out David Conner's staggering apartment in Primrose Hill. |
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Redevelopment in prime locations
in central London has also resulted in some extravagant upmarket efforts
- Peter Walker cites the penthouses by Crown Dilmun in Trevor Square (once
part of Harrods) as an excellent example.
Upmarket design maestros Candy and
Candy recently completed a magnificent penthouse in the same development
- over 6,000 sq ft of high tech luxury that sold for a cool £14 million.
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| The redevelopment industry
has also led to that peculiar architectural hybrid - the loft penthouse.
Lofts may once have been the preserve of bohemian types but they went upmarket
a long time ago.
Top floor shell spaces, says Caspar
Dixon of Urban Spaces, are the place anyone with the money wants to be:
"You're above everyone else, away from the noise and pollution of the streets
and the roof can provide a great outside space."
Loft dwellers typically bring in
their own designers and architects to fit the place out and this has resulted
in some superb bespoke apartments - Bankside lofts, Summer Street lofts
and Soho lofts are among the most authentic and sought-after developments. |
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But the bespoke trend has also become
a feature of the new-build sector as well. "Developers have decided to
sell shells that buyers can design rather than second guess what they want
- these are not people used to buying off the peg. This is where the penthouse
market is going," says Peter Walker. For a staggering example of what can
be achieved, see Richard Hywel Evans' amazing futuristic penthouse in the
docklands Icon development.
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| Penthouses: The Facts
1. Usually, though not always, the
top floor. Great views, terraces, balconies and outside space.
2. Private lift or lift that allows
penthouse owner privacy while s/he is using it.
3. High-tech features such as comfort
cooling, plasma screens in bathrooms and bedrooms, touch pad electronic
controls, integrated sound system, high-tech lighting and security systems,
etc.
4. Top of the range fixtures and
fittings: brochures will invariably name-check, Lutron, Bang & Olufsen,
Creston, etc.
5. Exceptional bespoke design and
use of highest quality materials - architectural glass, rare timbers, solid
oak floors, marble, hand-painted silk wallpaper etc.
6. Saunas, steam rooms, wet rooms,
swimming pools, cinemas and media rooms.
7. In developments: top notch concierge
services. More recent penthouses crown developments with restaurants and
hotel type services.
8. Buyers: rich, and super-rich (celebs,
corporate kings etc). 'Boy done good' types - one of the penthouses in
New Providence was sold to a scrap metal merchant. International types
in search of a bolt-hole with the wow factor.
9. Buyers: in the loft market, arty
and design types who want to create their own bespoke space.
More about penthouses: Check out
Jonathan Bell's excellent new book Penthouse Living, Wiley 2005. |
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More
about penthouses: Check out Jonathan Bell's excellent new book Penthouse
Living - The penthouse
is perhaps the most iconic of all living spaces. The word implies wealth,
with an emphasis on space, views, and an enviable urban lifestyle. But
when did our domestic aspirations start to look skyward? Is the contemporary
penthouse a purely elitist space, or are there mass-market solutions that
might open up the roofscapes to everyone? Penthouses are aspirational,
conjuring up a life with an undeniably sexual edge – Playboy magazine even
developed its own penthouse concept for an early issue. They also imply
a sense of mystery and power, these are the homes of industrialists, media
moguls and film stars, elevated high above the rest of humanity. A Penthouse
Living presents a selection of architecturally adventurous and dramatic
penthouse projects from around the world, including modernist icons, cinematic
visions and futuristic concepts, as well as a history of the penthouse,
recent projects and tomorrow's icons. Penthouse Living will open the door
to just a few of these exclusive spaces, an in-depth look at the developing
architectural response to living on high. |
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| This article
first appeared on Findaproperty.com and has been reproduced with their
permission |
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