"America's Favorite Architecture" is a list of buildings and other structures identified as the most popular works of

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. In 2006 and 2007, the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach progr ...

(AIA) sponsored research to identify the most popular works of architecture in the United States. Harris Interactive conducted the study by first

poll Poll, polled, or polling may refer to: Forms of voting and counting * Poll, a formal election ** Election verification exit poll, a survey taken to verify election counts ** Polling, voting to make decisions or determine opinions ** Polling pla ...

ing a sample of the AIA membership and later polling a sample of the public.American Institute of Architects, "About this Exhibit"
FavoriteArchitecture.org website
In the first phase of the study, 2,448 AIA members were interviewed and asked to identify their "favorite"

structure A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

s. 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

building A building or edifice is an enclosed Structure#Load-bearing, structure with a roof, walls and window, windows, usually standing permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, a ...

s 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.American Institute of Architects Releases Poll Showing "America's Favorite Architecture"
, Building Online, March 15, 2007 As part of the commemoration of the organization's 150th

anniversary An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded. Most countries celebrate national anniversaries, typically called national days. These could be the List of national independence days, date of independen ...

in 2007, the AIA announced the list of the 150 highest-ranked structures as "America's Favorite Architecture".

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

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 Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

, which is the location of 17 of the 150 structures on the complete list.

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

has 16 structures on the list. The 150 top-ranked structures are listed below:

List of "America's Favorites"

Criticisms

The list reflects popular sentiment as measured by an opinion survey, and thus diverges from the judgment of architecture critics. Urban design critic John King of the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'' described the list as "the architectural equivalent of comfort food."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 King noted that the public's ratings were based on seeing a single photo of each building, and pointed out that "There's more to architecture than a picture can convey." Architect and past AIA president R. K. Stewart acknowledges that the list "isn't necessarily the design professional's view of the best buildings, but the emotional connection to where people live and work and play." Buildings named by architects and critics as highly significant, but that did not achieve top 150 ranking in the public survey, included the Salk Institute in

La Jolla, California La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood in San Diego, California, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. The climate is mild, with an average daily temperature o ...

, designed by

Louis Kahn Louis Isadore Kahn (born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky; – March 17, 1974) was an Estonian-born American architect based in Philadelphia. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935. Whil ...

; the Inland Steel and John Hancock buildings in Chicago; Washington Dulles International Airport in

Chantilly, Virginia Chantilly is a census-designated place (CDP) in western Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population was 24,301 as of the 2020 census. Chantilly is named after an early-19th-century mansion and farm, which in turn took the name of an ...

, designed by

Eero Saarinen Eero Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1910 – September 1, 1961) was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer who created a wide array of innovative designs for buildings and monuments, including the General Motors Technical Center; the pa ...

; and the

Seagram Building The Seagram Building is a skyscraper at 375 Park Avenue, between 52nd Street (Manhattan), 52nd and 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Streets, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe along with P ...

in New York City, designed by

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect, academic, and interior designer. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. He is regarded as one of the pionee ...

.Alex Frangos
"Americans' Favorite Buildings"
''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', February 7, 2007

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: * 860–880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments – Chicago, Illinois * American Folk Art Museum – New York City * Art & Architecture Building –

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, 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 City Hall is the seat of local government in the United States, city government of Boston, Massachusetts. It includes the offices of the List of mayors of Boston, mayor of Boston and the Boston City Council. The current hall was built in ...

– 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 The Illinois Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Illinois Tech and IIT, is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the m ...

(IIT), Chicago *

Dallas City Hall Dallas City Hall is the seat of municipal government of the city of Dallas, Texas, United States. It is located at 1500 Marilla Street in the Government District, Dallas, Government District of downtown Dallas. The current building, the city's ...

– Dallas, Texas *

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Dallas Fort Worth International Airport is the primary international airport serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and the North Texas region, in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the largest hub for American Airlines, which is headquartere ...

– Dallas, Texas * M. H. de Young Memorial Museum – San Francisco *

Denver Art Museum The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is an art museum located in the Civic Center of Denver, Colorado. With an encyclopedic collection of more than 70,000 diverse works from across the centuries and world, the DAM is one of the largest art museums betwe ...

– 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 The Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice (also known as 321 East 42nd Street, 320 East 43rd Street, or the Ford Foundation Building) is a 12-story office building in Midtown Manhattan, East Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Completed in ...

– New York City * Frank Gehry Residence – Santa Monica, California *

Freer Gallery of Art The Freer Gallery of Art is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. focusing on Asian art. The Freer and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. The Freer and ...

– 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 Progressive Field is a baseball stadium in the downtown Cleveland, downtown area of Cleveland, Ohio. It is the ballpark of the Cleveland Guardians of Major League Baseball and, together with Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Rocket Arena, is part of ...

– 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 The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, hosts an art collection as well as traveling art exhibitions, educational programs and an extensive research library. Its initial artwork came from the private collection of Kay and Velma Kimbell, w ...

– 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 Co. Store – New York City * Marin County Civic Center – San Rafael, California *

Marshall Field and Company Building The Marshall Field and Company Building is a department store building and National Historic Landmark on State Street (Chicago), State Street in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It was designed in the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts and C ...

– Chicago * Menil Collection – Houston, Texas * Minneapolis Central Library – Minneapolis * Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth – Fort Worth, Texas *

Monadnock Building The Monadnock Building (historically the Monadnock Block; pronounced ) is a 16-story skyscraper located at 53 West Jackson Boulevard in the Chicago Loop, south Loop area of Chicago. The north half of the building was designed by the firm of B ...

– Chicago * Morgan Library & Museum – New York City * Mount Angel Library – Mount Angel, Oregon *

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's ori ...

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 5,000 years of history with nearly 80,000 works from six continents. Follo ...

* Nasher Sculpture Center – Dallas *

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

(East Wing) – Washington, DC * North Christian Church – Columbus, Indiana *

Oakland Museum of California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

– Oakland, California *

O'Hare International Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport is the primary international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, United States, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Chicago Loop, Loop business district. The airport is ope ...

– Chicago *

Peabody Terrace Peabody Terrace, on the north bank of the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a Harvard University housing complex primarily serving graduate students, particularly married students and their families. Designed in the Brutalist archi ...

– Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts * Petco Park (

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

) – San Diego * Philadelphia Savings Fund Society Building/PSFS – Philadelphia *

Philip Johnson Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an American architect who designed modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut; the postmodern 550 ...

'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 Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is a public airport in Arlington County, Virginia, United States, from Washington, D.C. The closest airport to the nation's capital, it is one of two airports owned by the federal government and ope ...

– 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 Soldier Field is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side, Chicago, Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924 and reconstructed in 2003, the stadium has served as the home of the Chicago Bears from the National ...

– Chicago * Sony Plaza (AT&T Corporate Headquarters) – New York City *

Staples Center Crypto.com Arena (originally and colloquially known as Staples Center) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in downtown Los Angeles. Opened on October 17, 1999, as Staples Center, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along F ...

– 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

External links

FavoriteArchitecture.org
(flash-based interactive photo exhibit of the listed buildings) * (text-based list) * {{cite web , url=https://www.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-poparch07-sort2.html , first1=Alex , last1=Frangos , title=Americans' Favorite Buildings , website=The Wall Street Journal , date=February 7, 2007, postscript=, (illustrated sortable list) Lists of buildings and structures in the United States Opinion polling in the United States American Institute of Architects

List of "America's Favorites"

Criticisms

Structures ranked below the top 150

See also

References

External links