In both price and desirability, penthouses often represent real estate’s most literal expression of the top tier.Carolwood EstatesPenthouses. The cherries (literally) on top of a high-rise or skyscraper. Coveted city-center addresses. Private elevators. Incredible views. Much of what we now take for granted is thanks to New York architect Rosario Candela, who can be credited for seeing into the future back in the 1920s—a time when residential penthouses were simply drafty rooftop spaces where the servants lived. Candela appreciated that Wall Street’s skyscrapers were a statement of big city business, so why wouldn’t we live in the skies as well? Candela set the template for today’s penthouse, complete with sprawling living spaces, wrap-around terraces for ultimate outdoor viewing and entertaining, high ceilings and plenty of privacy within a shared building. In the hierarchy of a building, everything builds toward the top, where the final residences are designed not just to occupy space, but to define it. In Portland, Oregon, that means life hovering above the Willamette River.LUXE | Forbes Global PropertiesFictional (and often fabulous) characters in film and television have chosen the luxe of penthouse living for decades. In the 1958 film Auntie Mame, the titular character drastically changed her Beekman Place penthouse decor six times, and designer Jonathan Adler famously commented that watching the Technicolor movie is an absolute “rite of passage” for any aspiring interior designer. Mad Men’s ad mogul Don Draper chose a swinging ’60s pad with a sunken living room/conversation pit as the ideal place to kick back, chain-smoke and sip Old Fashioneds while taking in the Manhattan skyline’s twinkling lights. And superhero Tony Stark in Marvel’s Iron Man went full high-tech with his own lab and private landing pad in a multistory penthouse atop super-swanky Stark Tower. Fictional (and often fabulous) characters in film and television have chosen the luxe of penthouse living for decades.