America's Favorite Architecture

The American Institute of Architects presents the top 150 favorite structures, as determined by a public poll conducted by Harris Interactive. Here are the top ten:

1. Empire State Building - Shreve, Lamb & Harmon
2. The White House - James Hoban
3. Washington National Cathedral - George Bodley and Henry Vaughan, FAIA
4. Jefferson Memorial - John Russell Pope, FAIA
5. Golden Gate Bridge â€“ Irving F. Morrow and Gertrude C. Morrow
6. U.S. Capitol - William Thornton, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Charles Bulfinch, Thomas U. Walter, FAIA, Montgomery C. Meigs
7. Lincoln Memorial - Henry Bacon, FAIA
8. Biltmore Estate/Vanderbilt Mansion - Richard Morris Hunt, FAIA
9. Chrysler Building - William Van Alen, FAIA
10. Vietnam Veterans Memorial - Maya Lin with Cooper-Lecky Partnership

See all 150 at Americaâ€™s Favorite Architecture. Link (Flash Player 8 required) -via Ursiâ€™s Blog

As an architect I find the AIA's list rather insulting. Why do they feel the need to dumb it down? The best on the list are average, the inclusion of some, like the Vegas Hotel is tragic.

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I was pleasantly surprised that nothing from Frank Lloyd Wright make the Top 10. Even the iconic engineering-challenged Falling(down)water only came in at #29. That was a lot higher than I would have ranked it, but I tended to derate architecture that crumbles in the decades immediately following completion.

I was also glad to see bridges were included! But putting the Brooklyn Bridge below the World Trade Center? Ugh! But I guess the WTC earns a certain measure of pity points that are hard to counter.

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