America's favourite buildings
And the results are in, with the Empire State Building at the top, followed by the White House. The Twin Towers come in at 19... Of the top 20, I could visualise 15, which I think is quite good going. 16 of the top 20 are in NY or DC, which is not so very surprising. My favourite, the Chrysler building is ninth.
Any nominations for favourite buildings in the UK? And most loathed, while we are at it.
Any nominations for favourite buildings in the UK? And most loathed, while we are at it.
Labels: United States
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on Thursday, February 08, 2007 at 9:59 am.
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Monticello makes only no. 27? Feh.
Well done to the Empire State, though. I went to see the Gherkin a few months ago. As an engineering feat it's a marvel. But it left me cold. The Empire State, on the other hand, has the power to make your heart soar.
The British Museum is a fine building. Would like to bomb the Barbican (preferably with Arthur Scargill at home).
Oh. Sorry. The REBUILT twin Towers.
I rather like 196 St Mary Axe (the Gherkin), ditto the Cesar Pelli Canary Wharf tower at Canada Water. My blow it up now award goes to the NZ High Commission building on the Haymarket - it is unforgivably ugly.
The thing that amazed me about the Gherkin is the tiny plot on which it stands. Its neighbours press in on every side. How on earth did the builders have room to work on such a complex project?
The nickname, The Gherkin, is amusing if not precisely accurate. More appropriate names, though, would probably have been too rude for public consumption.
can I refer to the PM's wife as a building? if so that is my worst in the UK.
I like Drax power station in Yorkshire - the enormity of it is quite breathtaking.
City Unslicker - Funny!
Holyrood Castle is great.
Stonehenge.
Best - Durham cathedral
Worst - Centrepoint in London.
C - have to agree about the NZ building, its ugly as sin.
We don't really have heroic architecture in Britain or Europe. Go somewhere like Houston or Dallas and it is dazzling. Interesting,glamourous buildings 70 storeys high. Houston's downtown skyline is simply dazzling.
I have to agree with you on your favourite building. The Chrysler Building is elegant, modern and graceful. One reason I still hanker to live and work in New York is that I would love an office with a view of that building. None of the Seven Sisters in Moscow quite hack it for me. Nor did the PKiN in Warsaw.
Why can't Britain do good skyscrapers?
I rather like the cleaned up St Pancras station. It is rather lovely. And St Pauls, obviously.
Tom Paine asks why Britain can't do good skyscrapers. Well, first, they can do any skyscrapers. There aren't any skyscrapers in Britain.
Second, the architectural circle in Britain seems to be in the grip of the lefties and, as we know, lefties love to shock. To "push the limits", in the infantile language of the left. This makes for bleak, in yer face architecture.
I agree about the Chrysler Building. I even, in an art deco way, like the Rockefeller Centre.
BTW, I absolutely loathe the Pompidou Centre. Singapore has some lovely buildings - but then you knew I'd say that, didn't you. Photos I've seen of Beijing would indicate that they have grasped the idea of skyscrapers.
I find it striking how few genuinely good buildings there are in the list. And some surprisingly low rankings too - Fallingwater at 29, the Flatiron building at 72, or Eero Saarinen's TWA terminal at 115. But then, the majority of Europe's greatest buildings are older than the USA.
In Britain, I'd vote for Brighton Pavilion, Carnarvon Castle, Kings College chapel in Cambridge and the Natural History Museum.
Buck House?
British Library
Wembley Stadium
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