Saturday shelterporn

Just so you know, Houstonist has never had the urge to live in a luxury high-rise. Sure, we might keep a weekend place for those times we jet up to New York, but in general, we prefer a home that's closer to the ground. But we know some people think it would be great to have a deluxe apartment in the sky, and with that in mind, we bring you this 22nd-floor unit at The Royalton on Allen Parkway.

The condo is larger than some, but otherwise it's fairly standard, with hardwood floors, a gourmet kitchen (look! stainless appliances! granite countertops!) and a large, open living/dining area. The master bedroom isn't spectacular, but it does feature a private balcony and a master bath with more granite countertops and a garden tub. The real selling point for this unit, though, is the bank of floor-to-ceiling windows that forms one wall of the living room — it gives a sweeping view of the downtown skyline, Allen Parkway and Buffalo Bayou, which we imagine would be a nice thing to wake up to every day. (Of course, that means all the windows face east, so it might be 350 degrees in your apartment when you woke up. We're sure the building has excellent air-conditioning, though, so you probably wouldn't need to worry.)

Many of the benefits of this place are the amenities the building offers: a party room with pool table, a theater for private screenings, a full-service gym and sauna, two conference rooms, a car service and a wine cellar for residents' use. It's almost enough to make you forget that The Royalton is the reason the beautiful Gulf Publishing Building doesn't stand on that site anymore. Almost. Bedrooms: two. Bathrooms: two. Square feet: 2,278. Price: $820,000.

And: We couldn't bring ourselves to use it as the featured shelterporn house, but we're unduly fascinated by this Manvel mansion. It's an absolutely enormous house — 31,696 square feet, roughly the same size as the average Whole Foods Market — and, to be frank, it's hideous. But it does have 13 bedrooms, so if you're looking for space to house your whole clan (and if you can overlook the acoustical tile ceilings and blue plush carpeting), you might have just found your dream home.