In this concrete jungle of a city, a view of the sky—unobscured by tall buildings—can be as valuable as a yard or an extra bathroom. These sky-lit homes all offer vistas more typical to Montana than Manhattan (okay, we exaggerate a tad). The jury’s out as the whether or not they deliver a less frenetic lifestyle to match.

The top floors of townhouses tend to have smaller windows and thus, limited light, but thanks to an oversized skylight, the fifth floor den/media room of this five-story, five-bedroom home at 116 East 70^th Street (priced at $27 million) gets natural brightness aplenty.

Once a carriage house, this modernist home at 17 East 65^th Street (on the market for $40 million) has five bedrooms, eight bathrooms and an interior courtyard atrium capped with a giant skylight at the top.

The great room of this 4,000-square-foot, prewar duplex loft condo at 140 Franklin Street (yours for $17.499 million) also features a massive, architectural skylight so you can cook, dine and relax by natural light from sun up to sundown.

The skylight of this penthouse convertible two-bedroom at 55 East 86^th Street (for rent at $8,750/month) has a retractable cover for those mid-summer days when a little less sunlight—not to mention the heat it imparts—may be what you crave.

The master bedroom of this West Village townhouse at 19 West 12^th Street (asking $34.95 million) has a north-facing skylight that spans the full 25-foot width of the house and, because you can never have too much of a good thing, the master bedroom closet has a skylight of its own, too.