Is there a real apartment like Bronaryre’s Manhattan “sky-cell”?

Bronaryre’s apartment in a spire was inspired by the penthouse of 70 Pine Street, New York. This 1930’s Art Deco building was once the world’s third-tallest and twice the tallest in Downtown: firstly when it was built, and then again after 9/11. The solarium in the spire—the “sky-cell” of FLOREAT LUX—was for a time an observatory open to the public. Later, when AIG acquired the building, the space was used for private entertaining, and it was during this period that the author became familiar with it.

In FLOREAT LUX, Bronaryre’s building is situated not at 70 Pine Street but amid that mysterious warren of narrow lanes immediately below 48 Wall Street—once headquarters of the Bank of New York, and whose magnificent main banking hall is now an event venue, including conversion into “Club Ralph”: a Jazz Age nightclub created for the after-party following the 2019 Ralph Lauren fashion show, some features of which were incorporated into the Cavendish House episode in FLOREAT LUX.

This shot of 70 Pine Street’s spire was taken from the roof of the Beekman Hotel, about half a mile away.