New York City’s Empire State Building was chosen in a public poll as the nation’s architectural favorite in a poll conducted for the American Institute of Architects, the institute announced.
The “America’s Favorite Architecture” list, part of the institute’s 150th anniversary celebration, ranks the top 150 architectural among 247 pieces that were chosen by 2,448 members of the architectural group. The public poll featured participation by 1,804 adults.
The Empire State Building, designed by architect William Lamb, topped the list, and the White House, designed by architect James Hoban, took second place.
Washington, D.C., is home to six of the top 10 sites on the list, and New York City claimed two. Besides the White House, the Washington, D.C., sites include: the Washington National Cathedral, in third place; Thomas Jefferson Memorial, fourth; U.S. Capitol building, sixth; Lincoln Memorial, seventh; and Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 10th.
San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge was fifth on the list; the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C., aka Vanderbilt Residence, was eighth; and New York City’s Chrysler Building was ninth.
After the Biltmore Estate, designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt, the next homes on the list were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright’s Kaufmann Residence (“Fallingwater”) in Bear Run, Pa., ranked 29th, followed by Wright’s Taliesin of Spring Green, Wis., in 30th place.
Hearst Castle in San Simeon, Calif., designed by Julia Morgan, is the next residence on the list, ranked 41st. Architectural firm Greene and Greene designed the Gamble House in Pasadena, Calif., which ranked 66th on the list. And Chicago’s Glessner House, designed by Henry Hobson Richardson, ranked 83rd.
The list included a wide range of structures, such as hotels, baseball parks (sorry, Red Sox fans — Yankee Stadium is ranked higher than Fenway Park), office buildings, libraries, museums and theaters, government buildings, bridges, churches (including the unfinished Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City), hotels and shops (Apple has two retail stores on the list.)
New York’s World Trade Center, though it is no longer standing, is ranked 19th on the list. The structure was designed by Minoru Yamasaki, Antonio Brittiochi and Emery Roth & Sons.
The architectural institute has encouraged a dialog about the list, and the site incorporates a blog through which visitors can comment about the structures on the list, the rankings and sites that should have been included on the list.
Pete Kalison of Williamsburg, Va., commented at the blog site, “There is a glaring omission. The Wren Building at William & Mary. Not only is the Wren Building, attributed to architect Christopher Wren, the oldest university building in the United States (1694), a stunning achievement by itself, but it’s magnificent vistas — both front and back — are perhaps unrivaled among America’s colleges.”
Another commenter, Brian Kenzer, stated at the blog, “What about the John Hancock Building in Chicago, more beloved and far more graceful than its blocky cohort: The Sears Tower.”
And several participants said that Detroit’s architecture was overlooked. “Such a mistake to not mention any of the fine architectural structures located in that city,” said one visitor. “For example: Michigan Central Station, Wayne County Building, Guardian Building, Fisher Building.”
The public poll and survey of institute members was conducted by Harris Interactive. Interviews with members were conducted from Oct. 18 to Nov. 22, and the public poll was conducted from Dec. 27 to Jan. 3. Public respondents evaluated up to 78 structures that were selected in random order from the larger list of 247, and participants were also offered the option to write in other works that were not included in the group of works that they evaluated, the institute reported.
