Do you currently live in a penthouse or the top floor of your building? Looking to ‘break through’ and build that dream roof deck? Maybe you are considering buying a place right now that has roof-rights and you only want it if you can build that dream roof deck?

Well…I found a great post today on Boston Roof Deck ordinances, thanks to Boston ERA Blog.

“Below is a link that will serve as the guidelines issued by Boston’s Inspectional Services Division for Buildings which have roof decks that serve as a place of recreation and assembly. The policy will go into effect on April 4, 2008.

The biggest issue here is that owners will be required to have their roof decks inspected every 5 years beginning with the effective date of the ordinance. This won’t apply to owner-occupied one and two family dwellings (as defined in code), roof decks accessed through a singel access point within owner-occupied units, or for roofs not accessible to tenants or alarmed in accordance with CBC 9-9.13.

This will apply to many of the brownstones and buildings in the Back Bay, South End, and throughout the city so as a home or property owner you should be aware of the rules and changes. For more information click on the link below for a copy of the ordinance.”

Click here for Roof Deck Ordinance

Source: GBREB & Boston ERA Blog.

So Whats the Best Roof Deck in Boston?

A: The penthouse units at the Albert A. Pope Condominium building located at 223 Columbus Ave in Boston’s South End / Back Bay line!  Lined with a grape vineyard, double deck patio’s and enough room to throw a summer bash and invite 100 of you closest friends!

Here is an aerial of the Albert A. Pope super lux Roof Deck setup!

(Courtesy of Google Earth )

The Albert A. Pope building is one of our all time favorite boutique luxury buildings. Many people refer to this condominium as the “Mistral Building” named after the famed restaurant Mistral which sits in the commercial space on the very first floor of this building. Anyway, in our opinion the 3 owners of the penthouse level homes here have the very best roof deck in all of Boston! We will see about the impact of these from The Clarendon and Columbus Center…but as it stand now…Albert A Pope has our vote! (unfortantly there are no re-sales at this time on the market)

Any other takers? Pics? Best roof decks in Boston?