America's Favorite Architecture
"America's Favorite Architecture" is a list of buildings and other structures identified as the most popular works of architecture in the United States.
In 2006 and 2007, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) sponsored research to identify the most popular works of architecture in the United States. Harris Interactive conducted the study by first polling a sample of the AIA membership and later polling a sample of the public.[1]
In the first phase of the study, 2,448 AIA members were interviewed and asked to identify their "favorite" structures. Each was asked to name up to 20 structures in each of 15 defined categories. The 248 structures that were named by at least six of the AIA members were then included in a list of structures to be included in the next phase, a survey of the general public. The survey of the public involved a total of 2,214 people, each of whom rated many photographs of buildings and other structures drawn from the list of 248 structures that had been created by polling the architects. The public's preferences were ranked using a "likeability" scale developed for the study.[1][2]
As part of the commemoration of the organization's 150th anniversary in 2007, the AIA announced the list of the 150 highest-ranked structures as "America's Favorite Architecture". New York City is the location of 32 structures on the list, more than any other place. Of the 10 top-ranked structures, 6 are in Washington, DC, which is the location of 17 of the 150 structures on the complete list.[2] Chicago has 16 structures on the list.
The 150 top-ranked structures are listed below.[3]
List of "America's Favorites"
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Criticisms
When it was released, critics observed that the list of "favorites" did not reflect the judgments of architectural “experts”. Upon the list's release, AIA president R.K. Stewart acknowledged that the rankings did not represent architects' professional judgments, but instead reflected people's "emotional connections" to buildings.[4] Buildings named by critics as being some that architects consider to be highly significant, but that did not achieve top 150 ranking in the public survey, included the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, designed by Louis Kahn; the Inland Steel and John Hancock buildings in Chicago; Washington Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Virginia, designed by Eero Saarinen; and the Seagram Building in New York City, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.[4][5] John King of the San Francisco Chronicle pointed out that in 1991 the AIA had named Eero Saarinen's design for Dulles Airport as one of ten "all-time works of American architects." King noted that the public's ratings were based on seeing just one photo of each building, and pointed out that "There's more to architecture than a picture can convey."[4]
Structures ranked below the top 150
The 98 buildings that were listed by architects as significant, but did not rank in the top 150 in the public vote, were:[4]
- 860–880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments – Chicago, Illinois
- American Folk Art Museum – New York City
- Art & Architecture Building – Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
- Baker House – Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Beinecke Rare Book Library – Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
- Beth Sholom Synagogue – Elkins Park, Pennsylvania
- Boston City Hall – Boston, Massachusetts
- Bradbury Building – Los Angeles, California
- Burton Barr Library – Phoenix Public Library, Phoenix, Arizona
- Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts – Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels – Los Angeles
- Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption – San Francisco
- CBS Headquarters/ Black Rock – New York City
- Yale Center for British Art/Museum of British Art – Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
- Chapel/W15 – Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Chapel of St. Ignatius – Seattle University, Seattle
- Crown Hall – Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), Chicago
- Dallas City Hall – Dallas, Texas
- Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport – Dallas, Texas
- M. H. de Young Memorial Museum – San Francisco
- Denver Art Museum – Denver, Colorado
- Denver Public Library – Denver, Colorado
- Eames House – Pacific Palisades, California
- Ennis House/Ennis-Brown House – Los Angeles
- Esherick House – Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania
- Experience Music Project – Seattle
- Farnsworth House – Plano, Illinois
- First Christian Church – Columbus, Indiana
- First Church of Christ Scientist – Berkeley, California
- First Unitarian Church of Rochester – Rochester, New York
- Ford Foundation Building – New York City
- Frank Gehry Residence – Santa Monica, California
- Freer Gallery of Art – Washington, DC
- Genzyme Center – Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Gropius House – Lincoln, Massachusetts
- Guaranty Building – Buffalo, New York
- Horton Plaza – San Diego
- IBM Building – Chicago
- Inland Steel Building – Chicago
- Jacobs Field – Cleveland, Ohio
- John Deere World Headquarters – Moline, Illinois
- John Hancock Center – Chicago
- Johnson Wax Building – Racine, Wisconsin
- Kaufmann Desert House – Palm Springs, California
- Kimbell Art Museum – Fort Worth, Texas
- Kings Road House – West Hollywood, California
- Larkin Administration Building – Buffalo, New York
- Lever House – New York City
- Lovell Beach House – Newport Beach, California
- R. H. Macy and Company Store (building) – New York City
- Marin County Civic Center – San Rafael, California
- Marshall Field and Company Building – Chicago
- Menil Collection – Houston, Texas
- Minneapolis Central Library – Minneapolis
- Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth – Fort Worth, Texas
- Monadnock Building – Chicago
- Morgan Library & Museum – New York City
- Mount Angel Library – Mount Angel, Oregon
- Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
- Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
- Nasher Sculpture Center – Dallas
- National Gallery of Art (East Wing) – Washington, DC
- North Christian Church – Columbus, Indiana
- Oakland Museum of California – Oakland, California
- O'Hare International Airport – Chicago
- Peabody Terrace – Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Petco Park (San Diego Padres) – San Diego
- Philadelphia Savings Fund Society Building/PSFS – Philadelphia
- Philip Johnson's Glass House – New Canaan, Connecticut
- Prada – Los Angeles
- Prada – 575 Broadway, New York City
- Price Tower – Bartlesville, Oklahoma
- Rachofsky House – Dallas, Texas
- REI Flagship Store, Seattle
- Reliance Building – Chicago
- Richards Medical Research Laboratories – Philadelphia
- Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport – Arlington, Virginia
- Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art – Cincinnati
- Salk Institute – La Jolla, California
- San Francisco Public Library – San Francisco
- Sandra Day O'Connor United States Courthouse – Phoenix, Arizona
- Seagram's Building – New York City
- Frederick J. Smith House – Darien, Connecticut
- Soldier Field – Chicago
- Sony Plaza (AT&T Corporate Headquarters) – New York City
- Staples Center – Los Angeles
- Superdome – New Orleans
- Tiffany and Company Building – New York City
- Unity Temple – Oak Park, Illinois
- University of Phoenix Stadium (Arizona Cardinals Stadium) – Glendale, Arizona
- Vanna Venturi House – Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania
- Wainwright Building – St. Louis, Missouri
- Washington Dulles International Airport – Chantilly, Virginia
- Wexner Center for the Arts – Ohio State University – Columbus, Ohio
- Whitney Museum – New York City
- William J. Clinton Presidential Library – Little Rock, Arkansas
See also
References
- American Institute of Architects, "About this Exhibit", FavoriteArchitecture.org website Archived May 10, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- American Institute of Architects Releases Poll Showing "America's Favorite Architecture" Archived 2012-09-13 at WebCite, Building Online, March 15, 2007
- American Institute of Architects, FavoriteArchitecture.org website Archived 2012-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
- John King, When it comes to the tops in architecture, it's all about how it makes people feel, San Francisco Chronicle, February 13, 2007
- Alex Frangos, Americans' Favorite Buildings, The Wall Street Journal, February 7, 2007
External links
- FavoriteArchitecture.org (Flash-based interactive photo exhibit of the listed buildings)
- AIA 150, NPR.org (text-based list)
- Americans' Favorite Buildings, The Wall Street Journal, February 7, 2007 (illustrated sortable list)
- America's Favorite Architecture on AIA Archiblog