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]
Criticisms[edit]
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]
– Chicago, Illinois
860–880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments
– New York City
American Folk Art Museum
– Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Baker House
– Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
Beinecke Rare Book Library
– Elkins Park, Pennsylvania
Beth Sholom Synagogue
– Boston, Massachusetts
Boston City Hall
– Los Angeles, California
Bradbury Building
– Phoenix Public Library, Phoenix, Arizona
Burton Barr Library
– Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts
– Los Angeles
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
– San Francisco
Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption
/ Black Rock – New York City
CBS Headquarters
/Museum of British Art – Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
Yale Center for British Art
– Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Chapel/W15
Chapel of St. Ignatius – , Seattle
Seattle University
– Dallas, Texas
Dallas City Hall
– Dallas, Texas
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
– San Francisco
M. H. de Young Memorial Museum
– Denver, Colorado
Denver Art Museum
– Denver, Colorado
Denver Public Library
– Pacific Palisades, California
Eames House
/Ennis-Brown House – Los Angeles
Ennis House
– Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania
Esherick House
– Seattle
Experience Music Project
– Plano, Illinois
Farnsworth House
– Columbus, Indiana
First Christian Church
– Berkeley, California
First Church of Christ Scientist
– Rochester, New York
First Unitarian Church of Rochester
– New York City
Ford Foundation Building
Frank – Santa Monica, California
Gehry Residence
– Washington, DC
Freer Gallery of Art
Genzyme Center – Cambridge, Massachusetts
– Lincoln, Massachusetts
Gropius House
– Buffalo, New York
Guaranty Building
– San Diego
Horton Plaza
– Chicago
IBM Building
– Chicago
Inland Steel Building
– Cleveland, Ohio
Jacobs Field
– Moline, Illinois
John Deere World Headquarters
– Chicago
John Hancock Center
– Racine, Wisconsin
Johnson Wax Building
– Palm Springs, California
Kaufmann Desert House
– Fort Worth, Texas
Kimbell Art Museum
– West Hollywood, California
Kings Road House
– Buffalo, New York
Larkin Administration Building
– New York City
Lever House
– Newport Beach, California
Lovell Beach House
– New York City
R. H. Macy and Company Store (building)
– San Rafael, California
Marin County Civic Center
– Chicago
Marshall Field and Company Building
– Houston, Texas
Menil Collection
– Minneapolis
Minneapolis Central Library
– Fort Worth, Texas
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
– Chicago
Monadnock Building
& Museum – New York City
Morgan Library
Mount Angel Library –
Mount Angel, Oregon
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
– Dallas
Nasher Sculpture Center
(East Wing) – Washington, DC
National Gallery of Art
– Columbus, Indiana
North Christian Church
– Oakland, California
Oakland Museum of California
– Chicago
O'Hare International Airport
– Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Peabody Terrace
/PSFS – Philadelphia
Philadelphia Savings Fund Society Building
Prada – Los Angeles
Prada – 575 Broadway, New York City
– Bartlesville, Oklahoma
Price Tower
Rachofsky House – Dallas, Texas
REI Flagship Store, Seattle
– Chicago
Reliance Building
– Philadelphia
Richards Medical Research Laboratories
– Arlington, Virginia
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
– Cincinnati
Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art
– La Jolla, California
Salk Institute
– San Francisco
San Francisco Public Library
– Phoenix, Arizona
Sandra Day O'Connor United States Courthouse
– New York City
Seagram's Building
– Darien, Connecticut
Frederick J. Smith House
– Chicago
Soldier Field
(AT&T Corporate Headquarters) – New York City
Sony Plaza
– Los Angeles
Staples Center
– New Orleans
Superdome
– New York City
Tiffany and Company Building
– Oak Park, Illinois
Unity Temple
(Arizona Cardinals Stadium) – Glendale, Arizona
University of Phoenix Stadium
– Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania
Vanna Venturi House
– St. Louis, Missouri
Wainwright Building
– Chantilly, Virginia
Washington Dulles International Airport
– Ohio State University – Columbus, Ohio
Wexner Center for the Arts
– New York City
Whitney Museum
– Little Rock, Arkansas
William J. Clinton Presidential Library
The 98 buildings that were listed by architects as significant, but did not rank in the top 150 in the public vote, were:[4]
Architecture of the United States
(Flash-based interactive photo exhibit of the listed buildings)
FavoriteArchitecture.org
NPR.org (text-based list)
AIA 150
The Wall Street Journal, February 7, 2007 (illustrated sortable list)
Americans' Favorite Buildings
on AIA Archiblog