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"

Rank	Structure	City	State	Architect(s)	Style
1	Empire State Building	New York City	NY	William F. Lamb	Art Deco
2	The White House	Washington	DC	James Hoban	Neoclassical
3	Washington National Cathedral	Washington	DC	George Frederick Bodley, Henry Vaughan and Philip H. Frohman	Gothic Revival
4	Thomas Jefferson Memorial	Washington	DC	John Russell Pope	Neoclassical
5	Golden Gate Bridge	San Francisco	CA	Irving F. Morrow and Gertrude C. Morrow	Art Deco
6	United States Capitol	Washington	DC	William Thornton	Neoclassical
7	Lincoln Memorial	Washington	DC	Henry Bacon	Greek Revival
8	Biltmore Estate/Vanderbilt Residence	Asheville	NC	Richard Morris Hunt; Frederick Law Olmsted	Châteauesque
9	Chrysler Building	New York	NY	William Van Alen	Art Deco
10	Vietnam Veterans Memorial	Washington	DC	Maya Lin	Modern
11	St. Patrick's Cathedral	New York	NY	James Renwick	Gothic Revival
12	Washington Monument	Washington	DC	Robert Mills	Egyptian Revival
13	Grand Central Terminal	New York	NY	Reed and Stem; Warren and Wetmore	Beaux-Arts
14	Gateway Arch	St. Louis	MO	Eero Saarinen	Modern
15	Supreme Court of the United States	Washington	DC	Cass Gilbert	Neoclassical
16	St. Regis	New York	NY	Trowbridge & Livingston	Beaux-Arts
17	Metropolitan Museum of Art	New York	NY	Calvert Vaux; McKim, Mead & White; Richard Morris Hunt; Kevin Roche; John Dinkeloo	Beaux-Arts
18	Hotel Del Coronado	Coronado	CA	James W. Reid	Victorian
19	World Trade Center (destroyed)	New York	NY	Minoru Yamasaki	Modern
20	Brooklyn Bridge	New York	NY	John Augustus Roebling	Gothic Revival
21	Philadelphia City Hall	Philadelphia	PA	John McArthur Jr.	Second Empire
22	Bellagio Hotel and Casino	Las Vegas	NV	Deruyter Butler; Atlandia Design	Italianate
23	Cathedral of St. John the Divine	New York	NY	Heins & La Farge; Ralph Adams Cram	Gothic Revival
24	Philadelphia Museum of Art	Philadelphia	PA	Horace Trumbauer, Zantzinger, Borie, and Medary	Neoclassical
25	Trinity Church	Boston	MA	Henry Hobson Richardson	Richardsonian Romanesque
26	Ahwahnee Hotel	Yosemite Valley	CA	Gilbert Stanley Underwood	National Park Service Rustic
27	Monticello	Charlottesville	VA	Thomas Jefferson	Georgian
28	Library of Congress	Washington	DC	John L. Smithmeyer and Paul J. Pelz	Beaux-Arts
29	Fallingwater/Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr. Residence	Mill Run	PA	Frank Lloyd Wright	Modern/Organic
30	Taliesin	Spring Green	WI	Frank Lloyd Wright	Prairie School
31	Wrigley Field	Chicago	IL	Zachary Taylor Davis	Jewel Box Stadium
32	Wanamaker's Department Store	Philadelphia	PA	Daniel Burnham	Neo-Renaissance
33	Rose Center for Earth and Space	New York	NY	James Stewart Polshek	Structural Expressionist / Postmodern
34	National Gallery of Art (West Building)	Washington	DC	John Russell Pope	Neoclassical
35	Allegheny County Courthouse	Pittsburgh	PA	Henry Hobson Richardson	Richardsonian Romanesque
36	Old Faithful Inn	Yellowstone National Park	WY	Robert Reamer	National Park Service Rustic
37	Union Station	Washington	DC	Daniel Burnham	Beaux-Arts
38	Tribune Tower	Chicago	IL	John Mead Howells;Raymond Hood	Gothic Revival
39	Delano Hotel	Miami Beach	FL	Robert Swartburg; Philippe Starck (interior)	Art Deco
40	Union Station	St. Louis	MO	Theodore C. Link	Romanesque
41	Hearst Residence	San Simeon	CA	Julia Morgan	Spanish Revival
42	Willis Tower, formerly the Sears Tower	Chicago	IL	Fazlur Rahman Khan Bruce Graham	Modern
43	Thomas Crane Public Library	Quincy	MA	Henry Hobson Richardson	Richardsonian Romanesque
44	Woolworth Building	New York	NY	Cass Gilbert	Gothic Revival
45	Cincinnati Union Terminal	Cincinnati	OH	Alfred Fellheimer and Stewart Wagner; Paul Philippe Cret, consulting architect	Art Deco
46	Waldorf Astoria	New York	NY	Schultze & Weaver	Art Deco
47	New York Public Library	New York	NY	Carrère and Hastings	Beaux-Arts
48	Carnegie Hall	New York	NY	William B. Tuthill; Richard Morris Hunt and Dankmar Adler, consulting architects	Italianate
49	San Francisco City Hall	San Francisco	CA	Arthur Brown, Jr.	Beaux-Arts
50	Virginia State Capitol	Richmond	VA	Thomas Jefferson	Neoclassical
51	Cadet Chapel, Air Force Academy	Colorado Springs	CO	Walter Netsch	Futurist
52	Field Museum of Natural History	Chicago	IL	Daniel Burnham and Graham, Anderson, Probst and White	Neoclassical
53	Apple, 5th Avenue	New York	NY	Bohlin Cywinski Jackson	Structural Expressionist
54	Furness Library, U. Penn.	Philadelphia	PA	Frank Furness	Victorian
55	Mauna Kea Beach Hotel	Kohala Coast	HI	Skidmore, Owings & Merrill	Modern
56	Rockefeller Center	New York	NY	Reinhard & Hofmeister, Corbett, Harrison & Macmurray, Raymond Hood, Godley & Fouilhoux	Art Deco
57	Denver International Airport	Denver	CO	Fentress Bradburn Architects	Postmodern
58	Ames Free Library	North Easton	MA	Henry Hobson Richardson	Richardsonian Romanesque
59	Milwaukee Art Museum	Milwaukee	WI	Santiago Calatrava	Postmodern
60	Thorncrown Chapel	Eureka Springs	AR	E. Fay Jones	Prairie School
61	Transamerica Pyramid	San Francisco	CA	William Pereira	Modern
62	333 Wacker Drive	Chicago	IL	Kohn Pedersen Fox	Modern
63	Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum	Washington	DC	Gyo Obata	Modern
64	Faneuil Hall Marketplace	Boston	MA	Benjamin Thompson	Georgian
65	Crystal Cathedral	Garden Grove	CA	Philip Johnson	Structural Expressionist / Postmodern
66	Gamble House	Pasadena	CA	Greene and Greene	American Craftsman
67	Nebraska State Capitol	Lincoln	NE	Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue	Art Deco/Neoclassical
68	New York Times Building	New York	NY	Renzo Piano	Structural Expressionist
69	Salt Lake City Public Library	Salt Lake City	UT	Moshe Safdie	Structural Expressionist / Postmodern
70	Walt Disney World Dolphin and Swan Hotels	Lake Buena Vista	FL	Michael Graves	Postmodern
71	Hearst Tower	New York	NY	Norman Foster	Structural Expressionist
72	Flatiron Building	New York	NY	Daniel Burnham	Beaux-Arts/Chicago school
73	Lake Point Tower	Chicago	IL	Schipporeit and Heinrich	Modern
74	Guggenheim Museum	New York	NY	Frank Lloyd Wright	Modern
75	Union Station	Los Angeles	CA	The Parkinsons	Spanish Revival
76	Willard Hotel	Washington	DC	Henry Janeway Hardenbergh	Beaux-Arts
77	Sever Hall, Harvard University	Cambridge	MA	Henry Hobson Richardson	Richardsonian Romanesque
78	Broadmoor Hotel	Colorado Springs	CO	Warren & Wetmore	Spanish Revival
79	Ronald Reagan Building	Washington	DC	James Ingo Freed	Postmodern
80	Phillips Exeter Academy Library	Exeter	NH	Louis Kahn	Modern
81	The Plaza Hotel	New York	NY	Henry J. Hardenbergh	Beaux-Arts
82	Sofitel Chicago Water Tower	Chicago	IL	Jean-Paul Viguier	Postmodern
83	Glessner House	Chicago	IL	Henry Hobson Richardson	Richardsonian Romanesque
84	Yankee Stadium (1923) (demolished)	New York	NY	Osborn Architects & Engineers	Jewel Box Stadium
85	Harold Washington Library	Chicago	IL	Hammond, Beeby and Babka	Postmodern
86	Lincoln Center	New York	NY	Wallace Harrison, Philip Johnson and others	Modern
87	The Dakota Apartments	New York	NY	Henry Janeway Hardenbergh	Neo-Renaissance
88	Art Institute of Chicago	Chicago	IL	Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge	Beaux-Arts
89	Fairmont Hotel	San Francisco	CA	Reid & Reid	Beaux-Arts
90	Boston Public Library	Boston	MA	Charles Follen McKim	Renaissance Revival
91	Hollywood Bowl	Los Angeles	CA		Expressionist
92	Texas State Capitol	Austin	TX	Elijah E. Myers	Neo-Renaissance
93	Fontainebleau	Miami Beach	FL	Morris Lapidus	Modern
94	Legal Research Building, University of Michigan	Ann Arbor	MI	York and Sawyer	Gothic Revival
95	Getty Center	Los Angeles	CA	Richard Meier	Modern
96	High Museum	Atlanta	GA	Richard Meier	Modern
97	Federal Building and United States Courthouse	Central Islip	NY	Richard Meier	Modern
98	Humana Building	Louisville	KY	Michael Graves	Postmodern
99	Disney Concert Hall	Los Angeles	CA	Frank Gehry	Postmodern / "Blobitecture"
100	Radio City Music Hall	New York	NY	Edward Durell Stone	Art Deco
101	Paul Brown Stadium	Cincinnati	OH	NBBJ	Postmodern
102	United Airlines Terminal 1, O'Hare Airport	Chicago	IL	Helmut Jahn	Modern
103	Hyatt Regency Atlanta	Atlanta	GA	John C. Portman, Jr.	Modern
104	AT&T Park (San Francisco Giants Stadium)	San Francisco	CA	Populous	Retro ballpark
105	Time Warner Center	New York	NY	David Childs	Modern
106	Washington Metro	Washington	DC	Harry Weese	Brutalist
107	IDS Center (IDS Tower)	Minneapolis	MN	Philip Johnson	Modern
108	Seattle Central Library	Seattle	WA	Rem Koolhaas and Joshua Prince-Ramus
109	San Francisco Museum of Modern Art	San Francisco	CA	Mario Botta	Postmodern
110	Union Station	Chicago	IL	Daniel Burnham and Graham, Anderson, Probst and White
111	United Nations Headquarters	New York	NY	Wallace Harrison and others	Modern
112	National Building Museum	Washington	DC	Montgomery C. Meigs	Renaissance Revival
113	Fenway Park	Boston	MA
114	Dana-Thomas House	Springfield	IL	Frank Lloyd Wright	Prairie School
115	TWA Terminal, JFK Airport	New York	NY	Eero Saarinen	Modern / Expressionist
116	The Athenaeum	New Harmony	IN	Richard Meier
117	Walker Art Center	Minneapolis	MN	Edward Larrabee Barnes
118	American Airlines Center	Dallas	TX		Art Deco
119	Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa	Phoenix	AZ	Albert Chase McArthur with Frank Lloyd Wright consulting
120	Los Angeles Central Library	Los Angeles	CA	Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue
121	San Francisco International Airport	San Francisco	CA	Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Del Campo and Maru Architects, Michael Willis Architects
122	Camden Yards	Baltimore	MD	Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum
123	Taliesin West	Scottsdale	AZ	Frank Lloyd Wright
124	United States Holocaust Museum	Washington	DC	James Ingo Freed, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
125	Citicorp Center	New York	NY	Hugh Stubbins & Associates; Emery Roth & Sons
126	V. C. Morris Gift Shop / Xanadu Gallery	San Francisco	CA	Frank Lloyd Wright
127	Union Station	Kansas City	MO	Jarvis Hunt	Beaux-Arts architecture
128	Rookery Building	Chicago	IL	Burnham and Root	Chicago school
129	Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, University of Minnesota	Minneapolis	MN	Frank Gehry	Postmodern / "Blobitecture"
130	Douglas House	Harbor Springs	MI	Richard Meier	Modern
131	Aline Barnsdall Hollyhock House	Los Angeles	CA	Frank Lloyd Wright
132	Pennzoil Place	Houston	TX	Philip Johnson
133	Royalton Hotel	New York	NY	Philippe Starck
134	Astrodome	Houston	TX
135	Safeco Field	Seattle	WA
136	Corning Museum of Glass	Corning	NY	Gunnar Birkerts
137	30th Street Station	Philadelphia	PA	Graham, Anderson, Probst and White	Neoclassical
138	Robie House	Chicago	IL	Frank Lloyd Wright	Prairie School
139	Williams Tower (Transco Tower)	Houston	TX	Philip Johnson
140	Stahl House (Case Study House #22)	Los Angeles	CA	Pierre Koenig
141	Apple, SoHo	New York	NY	Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
142	John Hancock Tower	Boston	MA	Henry N. Cobb
143	Pennsylvania Station (demolished)	New York	NY	McKim, Mead & White
144	Hyatt Regency	San Francisco	CA	John Portman
145	Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building	Chicago	IL	Louis Sullivan	Chicago school
146	Museum of Modern Art	New York	NY
147	Auditorium Building	Chicago	IL	Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan	Chicago school
148	Brown Palace Hotel	Denver	CO	Frank Edbrooke
149	David S. Ingalls Rink, Yale University	New Haven	CT	Eero Saarinen
150	Battle Hall, U. Texas	Austin	TX	Cass Gilbert	Spanish-Mediterranean Revival

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; 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 Building – 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

References

1 2 American Institute of Architects, "About this Exhibit", FavoriteArchitecture.org website
1 2 American Institute of Architects Releases Poll Showing "America's Favorite Architecture", Building Online, March 15, 2007
↑ American Institute of Architects, FavoriteArchitecture.org website
1 2 3 4 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

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