What places, structures or geographic features should be (inter)nationally famous?

[JManc]

Originally Posted by AviationGuy

People who haven't seen the Williams Tower close up won't have the appreciation many of us do. By close up, I mean really close up, from the base looking up at the beautiful lines and angles.

I have and it's one of my favorites but outside the Houston area, there is nothing special about it really. It gets lost in the countless other tallish postmodern skyscrapers around the country and the world. As special as it is to Houstonians, it's not even in the same league as a Chrysler or Empire State building...largely due to their style, place in history and status as former world's tallests as well as an icon of a very iconic city.

[Double L]

The reason I like it isn't its architecture but its setting. I think it's an awesome sight to see it stand alone and the beacon being seen in the inner city neighborhoods is a cultural thing.

[mhays]

World fame, and even national fame, needs way more than that.

[Double L]

Well I clarified that earlier in the thread. This is what I would like to see be world famous.

[dc_denizen]

Phillip Johnson getting no love here..

It's easily as iconic as the transamerica pyramid IMO, and better than any pomo skyscraper in NYC. I see shades of it in Dubai and Singapore's scrapers.

[Austinlee]

Originally Posted by Double L

Well I clarified that earlier in the thread. This is what I would like to see be world famous.

I love the Williams Tower.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

Phillip Johnson getting no love here..

It's easily as iconic as the transamerica pyramid IMO, and better than any pomo skyscraper in NYC. I see shades of it in Dubai and Singapore's scrapers.

I would think the Transamerica Pyramid is one of the most iconic towers on earth, and I don't think the Williams Tower is even well known in the U.S.

I had to think for a second which building we were referring to, and we're mostly skyscraper geeks. Houston doesn't have really any iconic skyscrapers, but certainly the most iconic ones are downtown.

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by JManc

I have and it's one of my favorites but outside the Houston area, there is nothing special about it really. It gets lost in the countless other tallish postmodern skyscrapers around the country and the world. As special as it is to Houstonians, it's not even in the same league as a Chrysler or Empire State building...largely due to their style, place in history and status as former world's tallests as well as an icon of a very iconic city.

I don't recall anyone saying it was in the same league as Chrysler or Empire State. Hardly any structures in the world are in that league.

[StethJeff]

People in Houston will stop thinking their tower is special once they've been to NYC, Chicago, HK, Shanghai, Singapore, etc. It's a nice building but I fail to see what anyone thinks ought to make it World Famous. As far as World Famous goes - meaning that it's recognizable to people (not skyscraper geeks) from around the world - there are no more than a dozen skyscrapers if that which fit such a description. Sorry guys.

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I would think the Transamerica Pyramid is one of the most iconic towers on earth, and I don't think the Williams Tower is even well known in the U.S.

I had to think for a second which building we were referring to, and we're mostly skyscraper geeks. Houston doesn't have really any iconic skyscrapers, but certainly the most iconic ones are downtown.

Actually it does, most notably Pennzoil Place, but it's iconic among real architects internationally, at least in the 70s when it was built. I don't know if it is now. I don't particularly like Pennzoil, though. I thought I'd add that since the tone of this thread has become so negative.

So can this thread move beyond Williams Tower now?

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

Originally Posted by Double L

There are some world landmarks that probably shouldn't be; like The Capitol Tower in Los Angeles or Radio City Music Hall. (They are both great places but wouldn't be famous if it weren't for their pop culture influence).

Shouldn't be? According to whom? The Capitol Records Building is a modernist landmark and an iconic design.

The Williams Tower is fine, but, IMO, as a bunch of others have pointed out, it's not unlike dozens of others by Johnson or Pelli. Plus:


source

The stone portal is an awkward juxtaposition against the curtain wall, to say the least. Speaking of which, the modular glass panels really distract from the design's (clear) desire for soaring verticality.

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

Phillip Johnson getting no love here..

It's easily as iconic as the transamerica pyramid IMO, and better than any pomo skyscraper in NYC. I see shades of it in Dubai and Singapore's scrapers.

Disagreed. What elevates postmodernsm beyond slavish recreation is the humor and irreverence with which its best designs approached historical forms. In this regard, few skyscrapers are better than the AT&T Building:


source

Even in Houston, the Bank of America Center is superior to (as well as more identifiably 'Houston' than—at least to this non-resident) the Williams Tower.

[Jonboy1983]

I'm familiar with the Chesapeake Bay Bridge; I've been across it, both spans. If I'm not mistaken, it carries US 50, a major highway linking Ocean City with Baltimore, DC, and San Francisco (or is it Sacramento), and all places in between. In fact, as you're leaving Ocean City, there's a sign that tells you how far away you are from its western terminus in California, which I believe is San Francisco...

I can't think of anything to mention for Pittsburgh or Philly that isn't already nationally or internationally famous...

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I would think the Transamerica Pyramid is one of the most iconic towers on earth, and I don't think the Williams Tower is even well known in the U.S.

I had to think for a second which building we were referring to, and we're mostly skyscraper geeks. Houston doesn't have really any iconic skyscrapers, but certainly the most iconic ones are downtown.

Transamerica may be "iconic" but to me it's not beautiful or inspiring. Unusual, yes.

For me, Chrysler takes top honors, far and above anything else in the world. Not only iconic, but absolutely beautiful as well. It has no competition.

[fflint]

Originally Posted by Ch.G, Ch.G

Disagreed. What elevates postmodernsm beyond slavish recreation is the humor and irreverence with which its best designs approached historical forms. In this regard, few skyscrapers are better than the AT&T Building:


source

The AT&T Building is one of the only really good post-modern skyscrapers.

Another po-mo skyscraper that doesn't totally suck: Minneapolis' Wells Fargo Center. The proportions are right, the materials are used well; this skyscraper may be a facsimile of a prior era, but it draws the eyes upward toward the sky, the way skyscrapers should:


source

[Double L]

Post Modern buildings are the only ones I like.

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by Ch.G, Ch.G

Shouldn't be? According to whom? The Capitol Records Building is a modernist landmark and an iconic design.

The Williams Tower is fine, but, IMO, as a bunch of others have pointed out, it's not unlike dozens of others by Johnson or Pelli. Plus:


source

The stone portal is an awkward juxtaposition against the curtain wall, to say the least. Speaking of which, the modular glass panels really distract from the design's (clear) desire for soaring verticality.



Disagreed. What elevates postmodernsm beyond slavish recreation is the humor and irreverence with which its best designs approached historical forms. In this regard, few skyscrapers are better than the AT&T Building:


source

Even in Houston, the Bank of America Center is superior to (as well as more identifiably 'Houston' than—at least to this non-resident) the Williams Tower.

Pretty much what I think of the buildings you mention and PoMo architecture in general. My opinion of the AT&T bldg in NYC is exactly that; a whole lot of coherence done with good humor. It may be the definitive statement even though it was the germ of the idea of Post Modernism in its very infancy. I dont know how much of a hard sell it was, the story behind the concept of a Grandfather Clocklike structure but I am glad it exists. There is also the fact that the stone render is alot more apropos than the glass curtain walls of other bldgs in that style. Bank of America Center also vies for attention as an Icon of PoMo and has quite a bit of humor in it by the way. Johnson is definitely the landmark architect in my view.

[MolsonExport]

L'Oratoire St. Joseph, Montreal. One of a kind in the Western World. Lords over Mount Royal and can be seen with the naked eye from points in New York State and Vermont.


memorablemontreal.com, LaPresse


Wikipedia


JP Gosselin

The dome is the third-largest of its kind in the world after the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro in Côte d'Ivoire and Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.

wikipedia

[Reverberation]

I put a vote in for the Williams tower too based on prominence and design. The 7,000w beacon at the top can be seen from 40 miles away on a clear night. When driving in from Austin or San Antonio on a hazy night as you get into the city the sky gets brighter and it almost looks like sheet lightning, but it is just the beacon sweeping across the city.

On cloudy nights when the ceiling is just right, the light chops through the cloud cover. As far as style, it just keeps looking better the more I see it.

Mine;

[Ant131531]

The BAPS SHRI SWAMINARAYAN MANDIR in Atlanta is nice. If it were actually in the core of Atlanta, it could have been iconic.

[dc_denizen]

the Cathedral of St John the Divine in Manhattan:



link

Very, very disturbing Peace statue outside:



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Tampere Cathedral, Tampere Finland with national-romantic style exterior and hauntingly beautiful frescoes.



https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=...13396254240058



Symbolist fresco: the Garden of Death



link

the Wounded Angel



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The Resurrection



link