ELENOR ON 5TH

Set above a collection of 58 residences, PH805 occupies the building's uppermost address — a penthouse conceived less as an apartment than as a piece of architecture in its own right. Near 2,300 square feet unfolds across a single level, oriented to take in the North Shore Mountains and the downtown skyline in equal measure.

The terrace is the home's organising idea. Expansive and unusually private for its elevation, it dissolves the line between inside and out, turning the main living space into something closer to a pavilion than a room. Detailing throughout is quiet and considered — solid wood doors, electric shades, heated bathroom floors, a rain shower set into the ensuite — the kind of restraint that reads as intention rather than absence. The kitchen is fitted with professional-grade appliances, built for use as much as for show, while Nest-managed heating and cooling and a dedicated 156-square-foot storage room round out a home designed around how it will actually be lived in. Two parking stalls are included.

Its setting matches its ambition: minutes on foot from a fast-emerging tech corridor, its public plazas, cafés and restaurants, and a five-minute walk to the seawall — the city's edge, and its own kind of terrace.