We’re right up there with the best of them

With the Shard in London — Western Europe’s tallest building — opening tomorrow, John Daly visits Ireland’s equivalent — in Cork City

F SCOTT Fitzgerald was right when he famously observed: “The rich are different to you and I.” Standing on the penthouse balcony of The Elysian, on a dazzlingly bright January morning, the title of the 1986 rock anthem, ‘The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades’, also seemed appropriate. While The Elysian does not have the same architectural impact as London’s Shard, which opens tomorrow, the stunning vistas of Cork City, from this 17-storey tower, have no peers. There are eye-popping views, to all points of the compass from the balconies — across the River Lee, the docklands, the western suburbs, the lower harbour and thousands of houses dotted into the distance, like Lego.

The landscape made me recall many an episode of my life in 20 years in the city — Munster finals at Pairc Uí Caoimh, Midsummer Festivals in Fitzgerald Park, lazy summer evenings in UCC, and many a well-oiled night of great conversation in bars around Pana and the Coalquay. Named after the mythological Elysian Fields and their heavenly sanctuary, this iconic Cork landmark is Ireland’s tallest building, with 211 apartments, complete with high-speed lifts from the car park in the basement.

The building was designed by a local firm, Wilson Architecture. The central, Japanese-style garden, with its atmospheric Burren rock structures, is another dramatic vision, especially at night. The top penthouse, which is vacant, will cost you €4,000 a month.

Across the water, with its extraordinary profile, dwarfing many of London’s more conventional buildings, the Shard has all the necessities required by millionaires — designer shops, luxury offices, a five-star hotel, high-end restaurants and a spa with every therapy known to man.

The public viewing gallery, on the 72nd floor, is expected to attract two million visitors a year, despite the altitude-popping admission of £24.95 (€29). Architect Renzo Piano’s design was criticised by English Heritage, who said the structure would be “a shard of glass through the heart of historic London”. The name stuck.

Piano said he was inspired by church steeples in historic engravings of London, and designed the building’s 11,000 panes of glass to reflect ‘sunlight and the heavens’, and to change in appearance according to the seasons.

A number of the luxury apartments in The Shard are expected to cost £50m each.

At six times the height of Nelson’s Column, these will be the most elevated homes in Western Europe, with owners able to spot ships 45 miles away in the North Sea, as well as the grandstand at Ascot racecourse.

Poking through the clouds, a number of the apartments cover two entire floors, and are expected to be bought by wealthy business people from Asia, Russia and Greece who are “seeking a safe haven for their money in one of the world’s major capitals”.

And in the Big Apple ...

Like the song says, ‘New York — if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere’. Some of the biggest deals in history have been made in Manhattan in the past year. Central Park West, the mirror image of Fifth Avenue on the far side of the iconic park, has had mega-sales, starting with Russian billionaire, Dmitry Rybolovlev, who paid $88m (€64m) for a 6,744 sq ft penthouse at No 15, Central Park West. Las Vegas casino kingpin, Steve Wynn, paid $70m (€51m) for an 11,000 sq ft penthouse duplex at the top of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, on nearby No 50, Central Park South.

Topping both of those deals was a penthouse at One57 — a hotel and residential tower adjacent to Central Park South — for which an unnamed billionaire paid $95m (€70m). If you want a view of Central Park from one of New York’s most famous buildings, how about the Plaza Hotel, where a corner pad sold for $48m (€35) recently. Dwarfing all of these serious Big Apple deals, however, is an apartment on offer by estate agent, Raphael De Niro, the son of actor, Robert De Niro. The 8,000sq ft, octagonal-shaped penthouse is spread over three floors at the pinnacle of the CitySpire building, and has six bedrooms, a massive 3,000sq ft terrace, a marble foyer and a wine cellar. It is owned by property developer, Steve Klar, who wants a tidy $100m (€80m). Guess what he bought it for in 1993? A measly $4m (€3m), that’s what. Not a bad profit — even by Manhattan standards.