Two Out Of One-Hundred And Fifty
We have a lot of buildings in our fair city. Some might even say that we’ve too many. But of all of them, which are most popular?
The American Institute of Architects conducted a nationwide survey to clear the decks and get to the heart of one of the most important questions of our age: Which American edifices are held most dear by the average? Their result is a list of 150 American architectural favorites. (PDF list here.)
The top ten is full of the usual and expected suspects, like The Empire State Building, The White House and The Golden Gate Bridge. You can even find the nearby Biltmore Estate at #9.
But Atlanta’s offerings don’t show up until #96. That’s where you’ll find The High Museum, designed by Richard Meier. Scan down a few more listings and you’ll see our only other listing: The Hyatt Regency, John Portman‘s 1967 masterpiece.
Admittedly, maybe those surveyed haven’t seen enough of The City Too Busy To Hate. So tell me … what other local works of multi-story art deserve to be on the big list of 150?
I was really hoping to see The Masquerade on there.
The Bank of America Plaza defines the Atlanta skyline for me. It’s like our Empire State Building,
Duh, that’s easy–I would go for the Big Chicken
None. High Museum is beautiful. That’s it.
In addition to Richard Meier’s 1983 High, and the Hyatt (which I much prefer to Portman’s other hotels), I would add Renzo Piano’s 1995 addition to the High, and the “IBM Tower” (One Atlantic Center), by Philip Johnson (Paul Goldberger, in the New York Times, correctly called it a great postmodernist building). The Bank of America building is handsome, but I wouldn’t put it in the same class as the IBM Tower.
Oops – I mean Renzo Piano’s 2005 addition to the High.
I’m surprised we cracked the top 100. This city is dull in a nation obsessed with the dullest expressions of dull, internationalist style.
The Wachovia Building on the corner of Peachtree and North Ave. It is a classic example of Mid Century… Oh Nevermind.
As an architecture major at gatech, I used to HATE that Bank of America building. The pyramidal top mismatched the rest of the building. The color was reminiscent of old rust. Yet somehow, over the years, that building grew on me. Whenever I got lost in the city, went too far on ponce, going in circles in virginia highlands, etc, I would always look for for that ugly building.
It wasn’t until my flight back from studying abroad in Spain that I saw the light atop the Bank of America flashing at me from the evening sky and this feeling of arriving home washed over me. That’s when I became more and more fond of it.
Right now, I’m really hating on 1180 Peachtree, what I term to be “the Batman Building”. hehe
hah hah cindy…i call that building the nuclear missile silo. i keep waiting to see an mx peacemaker emerge from it’s top….
Personally, I am enamored with 191 Peachtree – especially as seen from The Sundial.
I hear you on 1180, I keep waiting on them to finish the damn thing.
My wife and I call 1180 the Tweezer Bldg. I like it though.
I like 1180 – I thought it was great to see something really creative going up in Midtown. I also like some of the newer condo buildings like the Spire and also this one on Howell Mill Rd.