MOVE CLOSER TO YOUR WORLD: Looking out on the city from Nineteen.

But the most heavenly aspect of the newly open Nineteen is that it's literally heavenly.

Atop the Park Hyatt on the 19th floor, Nineteen is the city's highest restaurant, with a panoramic embrace of a skyline that shimmers by day and twinkles by night.

At a time when the 28-story Cira Centre is the toast of 30th Street and the 58-story Comcast skyscraper is going up on 17th, a way-high restaurant—affordable or not—might not seem a big deal.

But with downtown space at a premium, growing a skyline from existing roots may be the best way to implicate ourselves, architecturally, into the friendly skies.

"Land shortage in Center City will always limit development," says Thom Nickels, author of the acclaimed Philadelphia Architecture and recent recipient of the AIA Journalism Award from Philadelphia's chapter of the American Institute of Architects. "I can't tell you how [often] I've ruminated about adding 10 floors to the Bell Atlantic Building or 30 to Penn Center's boxes. Builders can always go up, by building onto existing buildings."

Or by better utilizing those same buildings' highest planes.

When Nineteen general manager Bernard Guet hired Marguerite Rodgers' interior design firm, the first thing she noticed about the original haunts—the Founders Room, the Barrymore Room—was how poorly the extant design used the 102-year-old hotel's original ornate plaster moldings, its richly significant archways, its 36-foot-high domes.

"You couldn't see out through the magnificent windows from the thick heavy drapery the hotel had used originally in these spaces," says Rodgers. "The room has been a missed opportunity—a great way to see the city."

Now you can see helicopters hovering over the PSFS Building, a flock of pigeons soaring over Sofitel and the sky turning from clear and bright to dusky and blue-gray through 20-foot-high windows. If this isn't romantic, you're dead.

What Nineteen does too—along with giving Philly a signature high not unlike the Space Needle's 520-foot high Sky City restaurant—is add its own light to the natural ambient shine of the city and its bustle. Every little bit helps.

"A skyline is like a first impression, the new suit you put on for an interview, or new haircut," says Nickels. "I've never known anyone on a bus or plane who hasn't craned their neck to get a good look at a sparkling array of lights from some big metropolis. When I take Amtrak and pass cities like New Haven or Hartford … and see skylines modest and low, I know immediately that while these may be pleasant cities, they're third-tier."

Similar to what she did with Lacroix and its view of Rittenhouse Square's greenery, Rodgers, rather than compete with the view, tried to compliment it, to bring it in and make the interior an extension of the city in the sky.

Granite and brick are the neutral tones that set off Rodgers' dashes of blue and hints of purple, which emulate the ever-changing skies. The entrance's stone "peek-a-boo" sculpture invites you to roam, to choose whether you want to hang in the bottle-encased, glass-walled wine room or the burly bar. Or you can choose the cafe, where the hue of the sky is emulated in platelike art, rugs and fabrics. Or the dining room, with its round, pearl-mosaic-tiled raw bar with lights that shine as the room darkens. Above that centerpiece hangs a significant light fixture, a large set of pearls that Rodgers designed to create a sense of scale.

She's thrown in reflective surfaces—notably a long, curved dividing mirror between the kitchen and dining room.

"The mirrors reflect the architecture," says Rodgers of a design that's nearly transparent. "It accentuates the spaciousness." The only view that could be better will be when Nineteen's terraces are landscaped for outdoor dining.

The affordable brasserie—prices range between $6 and $30—could give many Philadelphians the opportunity to see their skyline in full bloom.

"As a kid my great aunt would take me to New York City's Top of the Sixes restaurant and we'd eat by the windows at night," says Nickels. "It was hard for me to keep my eyes on my plate with all the glittering skyscraper lights. Restaurants like this do more than dazzle; they imprint lifetime memories."

Nineteen, An American Brasserie, Park Hyatt at The Bellevue Hotel's 19th floor, Broad and Walnut sts., 215-893-1234.