Would you rather live in a lousy building with beautiful views, or a nice building with crummy views?

By Lambeth Hochwald | October 16, 2017 - 1:00PM

Is it worth it to live in a decrepit building just to look out over our gorgeous skyline, or would you rather live in a gorgeous building that looks out over nothing, not even a brick wall?

That’s the question we posed to five New Yorkers this week, and as usual, the responses were mixed.

Here's what we found out:

A beautiful building is all I want

I don’t like leaving my house. My life revolves around my dogs and it’s not like they can see out the window anyway!—Morgan Bailey, Park Slope

Window watcher

My apartment was gut-renovated before I moved in, so it’s clean and nice, but the building itself is very old and looks like it needs a power-wash from the inside out. It doesn’t bother me too much because it’s really my apartment that matters, not the hallways. I’m constantly looking out the window, so a great view of the park or the water would be game-changing.—Allie Smith, Alphabet City (pictured below)

I’m all about the view

I’d rather live in a crappy building as long as there are no rats. Like, if the faucets leak and the tiles don’t match, that’s cool, provided I have something spectacular to look at out my windows.—Cassie Delaney, Crown Heights

Give me a nice building any day

I would be terrified if the inside of my building had rats or roaches and would much rather have bad views than a bad building.—Yvette Tse, Park Slope

Save the views for when I’m out

I’d take a beautiful building with crappy views, for sure. There are so many places you can find good views—who needs them from your own bedroom!—Lauren Guberman, Upper East Side

The verdict: It was a close call, but for a majority of these New Yorkers, a nice building matters way more than a great view.

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