Penthouses are thought of as some of the most luxurious modes of accommodation, but are they always found on the top floor?
While the term ‘penthouse’ originally referred to an exclusive property on the top floor of a building, the term has changed as time has gone on. It can now refer to any apartment in a building with an exclusive layout, or one on a higher floor with ample space and an outside portion, like a terrace or veranda.
Read on to learn more about penthouses and how they’ve come to be considered so exclusive.
Top Of The World
If we look back throughout history, the term ‘penthouse’ has existed in some form or another for over seven hundred years. It was originally defined as ‘a sloping roof projecting from the main wall or the end of a building’.
It’s been heard in Old French, transposed from Latin, and written in Middle English, literally describing a ‘slope-house’. However, it was at the turn of the twentieth century that the term was redefined to describe an apartment – or ‘small house’ build atop a tall building, often a skyscraper.
Specifically, the term arose in popularity throughout the 1920s in the United States. This decade was known to all as the Roaring Twenties, a time of lavish extravagance, decadence, and luxury.
There was mass economic prosperity all throughout Western culture which was dominated by the growth of the United States. This decade saw the enormous uprising of technology and machinery, consumerism, and the popularization of things like electricity.
It makes complete sense that luxurious, sky-high apartments would become just as popular at a time like this. The ability to purchase a home that towered above everyone else’s, and to have something intensely exclusive, likely appealed to the super-rich of the era.
Turning The Term Around
As the years wore on, penthouses more or less retained their luxurious stature in society. They were commonly seen among the urban sprawls of the Western world, in cities like London, Los Angeles, New York, or Paris.
However, they did find their way around the world, given the technically simple definition of the term. You could find penthouses in Asian and Australian cities just as easily as American or European cities.
Although, the term has been negated somewhat, become more of a marketing term than a legitimate description of a property. These days, a ‘penthouse’ can be any apartment in a building with a different, more luxurious layout.
It can also be used to describe the higher levels of an apartment building and not just the highest. There are some architects who’ll construct a staggered top level, meaning several apartments can have pools, garden areas, or verandas.
In one article, written by a New York property expert, we hear how brokers and developers will cast the term ‘penthouse’ around quite indiscriminately. They’ll often use it to describe apartments located ‘somewhere near’ the top of the building.
However, in the architectural sense of the world, a true penthouse must be on the roof of a tall building, most commonly an apartment block. It must also be set back away from the outer walls, providing an outdoor space around the penthouse itself.
This doesn’t mean that a high-level apartment with a balcony is a penthouse, of course. It has to feature a veranda or a terrace at the very least to be considered a penthouse.
Pick Of The Penthouses
Given that penthouses are almost always located in prestigious, high-value areas, they’re almost guaranteed to have staggering price tags. Reportedly the most expensive penthouse in the world, the Odean Tower penthouse in Monaco is worth almost half a billion dollars.
One of the most valuable penthouses in the United States is the Ritz-Carlton penthouse in New York City. It’s valued at well over one-hundred million dollars and is split up into three separate apartments.
It’s overwhelmingly huge and offers a commanding view over the entire city of New York.
In fact, when it comes to the penthouses of the United States, the only ones that make the top ten on the scale of value are found in New York. There’s the CitySpire penthouse, One57 penthouse, and the Dome penthouse.
These are the most iconic and famous, all bearing price tags that hover around one-hundred million dollars. They’re a dramatic investment but one of the best ways for the super-rich to enjoy their hard-earned (or not) money.