Jackie O’s library on the 15th floor of 1040 Fifth Avenue, designed by Rosario Candela in 1930. Photograph by Horst P. Horst.

Rosario Candela’s New York

The Jazz Age architect invented penthouse living, remaking the city’s skyline—and attracting buyers including Jackie O—along the way

By David Netto

It would be impossible to dream the dreams we have of New York without the architecture of Rosario Candela. In the early 1900s, penthouse living had not yet caught on, and rooftop space was conventionally used for servants’ quarters. By the time Candela reached the height of his powers, in the late 1920s, the marketability of penthouses could no longer be ignored. Borrowing from the dramatic effect of Wall Street’s skyscraper district, and in response to developers’ need to achieve greater profitability through height, Candela developed the prototype for the New York setback penthouse, crowned with a roof tower.

This combination of features put his architecture in the movies and embedded his buildings in the public imagination. Think of the famous sequence in the 1936 film Follow the Fleet, where Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dance on a terrace in front of a lantern-like illuminated tower: this penthouse set was directly inspired by Candela’s Park Avenue skyline.