The jaw-dropping penthouse in New York City's tallest residential building

It’s hard to upstage the view from 373 metres, so when the interior designer Kelly Behun was contacted to design a 92nd-floor penthouse at 432 Park Avenue, she didn’t try.

“It was about not even beginning to try to compete with those views,” she said. “They’re mesmerising, like watching the most beautiful movie of New York you’ve ever seen.”

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Behun was contacted “about seven months ago”, she said, to design the $US39.75 million ($51.68 million) apartment. She was normally not one to outfit model apartments, and when she entered the building-the tallest residential tower in the western hemisphere – “I saw the space and was hooked,” she said.

“I’ve lived in New York a long time, and I’ve never seen views like that. They’re epic.”

The rooms in the three-bedroom, three-bathroom, 369 square-metre apartment feature the building’s signature, three metre by three metre square windows, which Behun said have built-in ledges (deep sills, effectively) that serve as window seats.

“That makes each window a destination in itself,” she said. The depth of the window has the added virtue of creating a picture-frame-like effect, a visual trick that allows the ostensibly vertiginous views to be “soothing”, Behun said.

“I know people who are afraid of heights, and they go into that apartment and are fine.”

Behun filled the house with colours that would match the apartment’s constantly shifting light. “The accent colours are what you’d see during different times of the day,” she said. “Sunlight, storm clouds, none of the colours are supersaturated.”

Interior decoration includes a custom sofa designed by Behun, chess stools by Anna Karlin in the kitchen, a new side table from the Haas Brothers in the living room, and a plaster installation on the fireplace wall by the artist Yolande Batteau.

Though technically four floors below the top, this apartment is part of the building’s “penthouse collection”. A 766 square-metre apartment on the 96th floor of the tower recently sold for a reported $87.7 million, or $114,490 per square metre. In that context, this apartment’s $107,723 is a comparative bargain, though Behun’s furnishings aren’t included in the purchase price.

Regardless of the buyer, Behun said that she’s “grown attached” to the space. “I hope it goes to a nice person,” she said. “And I hope they let me come visit.”

Bloomberg

The living area. Photo: DBOX for Macklowe Properties & CIM group.

The bathroom, with views of the city. Photo: DBOX for Macklowe Properties & CIM group.