What's your favourite building in the world?

Chartres Cathedral

OP Jesus that is truly on of the ugliest buildings I have ever see. A parody post that is not funny.

Trump Tower.

Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona

Not the most sophisticated but I do,love Fallingwater in concept. The merger of nature and architecture. And stone and water.

Personal bias - but Philadelphia Coty

^ Philadelphia City Hall. See it daily and it always inspires.

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Pantheon. Perfecto eterna.

Phillip Johnson's Sony Building (used to be AT&T) on Madison in NYC. Groundbreaking for the time.

Church of San Vitale in Ravenna. I'm not gonna post any pics because they don't do it justice (round architecture is very difficult to capture in photos) but I actually let out a loud gasp when I stepped inside - I was the first person there that day and I had the whole place for myself for about 20 minutes, before groups of stupid Asian and American tourist started rolling in. It was a really magic experience.

The architecture of the place and its sheer size are impressive enough but those iconic mosaics are just an extra plus.

The Robie House on the University of Chicago campus. A friend used to work there so he had a key, and we would wander over the in the evenings and on weekends, and I would find some new detail to marvel at every time I went.

Greystone mansion in LA. Something about materials and workmanship that can never be duplicated today is so intriguing.

Chateau de Chambord in the Loire Valley.

Taj Mahal.

Hahahaha. Excellent choice, R3.

OP that looks like it could be a condo unit on any street in West Hollywood.

Interesting - as much as I love architecture, it’s very hard to come up with a favorite building. I tend to like the combination of buildings in cities like Paris, Amsterdam, London, Philadelphia.

I can't say I'm particularly interested in visiting Macau, but if I did, visiting the interior of this building would be a priority.

i have dozens form every era. In the modern one i'd say the Flatiron building

IAC Building New York

IAC Building

Royal Courts of Justice London

The Imperial Palace of Tokyo.

I'm so envious R12

This building by Zaha Hadid would give me something to visit in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The FLW Price Tower in Buttfuck, Oklahoma is rather surprising, given it's location

Louvre

D.O. Darfur orphan

Kirche am Steinhof, Vienna.

Disney Hall in LA.

Maisons-Laffitte, looking neglected

St. Paul's Cathedral

Innovation Tower at Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Belvedere Hotel in Cherry Grove - stunning

I have a special fascination with the Hagia Sophia.

One Bloor in Toronto

Pointy buildings are best.

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg... part of it is a Westin hotel.

Some fugly buildings in this thread.

I've always loved Castle Howard.

St. Regis Hotel New York

Another FLW masterpiece, the Ennis House in L.A.

Longaberger Basket Building, Newark, OH.

Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Las Vegas, NV

The Longaberger building is a trigger structure for me.

Blenheim Palace

The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

Chateau de Chenonceau

I have to say The Sydney Opera House. It's a beautiful building, in a wonderful site, but most of all it was part of my childhood. I remember watching its completion on the news and my extended family went to see the opening. It was one of those perfect days, the whole family on picnic rugs sitting in a park underneath the Harbour Bridge listening to everything on a transistor radio and topped off by Sydney's first ever big fireworks display. Every time I go itnto the city I can see the Opera House and almost touch my childhood sense of wonder and excitement, It's purely subjective, but no building will ever move me like that again.

Villa La Rotonda

Reichstag

Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

The Potala Palace

My favorite is the blue buttplug in London. The color is so pretty.

R56 Barcelona's buttplug is prettier!

Julian Schnabel's Palazzo Chupi

The Wurzburg Residenz in Germany. I love domed features that face onto gardens (Vaux Le Vicomte in France is another spectacular example). You'd never know the Residenz was heavily bombed in WW2.

My second favorite is the Palacio Real in Madrid. What I truly love about it (in addition to the design) is the stone used in its construction. It is a whitish lavender grey and in full sun the lavender really shows through.

I'd have to say Buckingham Palace. Every time I visit London I have to see it. Have been through the palace (state rooms only) on tour three times. Yes, I'm an anglophile from the U.S.

Bullshit, r36. Gehry is the worst architect that ever lived. The Gugenheim in Balboa is the most horrible building ever built!

Gehry didn't design the Belvedere Hotel on Fire Island. What's wrong with the IAC Building?

R60 Buckingham Palace?! That's one of the homeliest palaces in Europe. It looks like an oversized train station.

It looked much better before Vicky had it rebuilt.

Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp

La Alhambra in Granada is beautiful and challenges all senses.

R64 J'adore that one. Here's another modern church I really like, located in Paks, Hungary and made by the always wacky Imre Makovecz.

Interior (resembling an upside down ship) looks great too.

The Bradbury Building, in L.A., c.1890?, with that great atrium. Lots of noirs filmed there.

Arango-Marbrisa House by John Lautner in Acapulco.

Having grown up in Tucson, Arizona, I was taking as a child to the Mission San Xavier del Bac out in the desert. I was fascinated by the building. The interior was very rococo in style. The Spanish priests imposed this structure on the Native Americans and had them build it to their specifications.

Notice that the right tower is unfinished. A Native American fell to his death while that tower was being constructed and the rest of the builders took it as a bad omen, and refused to continue to work on that tower. Finished in 1797, it has withered over the centuries and restorations have had to be financed by public donations.

At R70, I mentioned that the church was finished in 1797, while I said that the tower was left unfinished. Well it is what it is. Here is a photo of the interior, the rococo style alter. The acoustics are great for concerts. If you're ever around the area, it is worth a visit.

I have also been to many of the buildings mentioned on this thread. The French chateau and some of the churches. I still want to visit the Taj Mahal, the greatest monument dedicated to love.

I know it's so prevalent it's cliche, but Neuschwanstein's idyllic location makes it all the more perfect.

Cliff Palace.

The Pantheon in Rome is classical perfection.

The Gamble House - I grew up near here.

Better photo of the Gamble House

People who loved The Pantheon should also visit Thessaloniki - the Rotunda of Galerius in that city is like a shabbier version of The Pantheon but equally impressive. I experienced a wow effect when I walked inside because the interior is so enormous.

Can I have 2? Grand and Petit Palais - Paris

Rosecliff in Newport has beautiful proportions and decorative structures. Stanford White!

Abbey library of Saint Gall

I can't help but love the over the topness of the Neuswanstein Castle. The best thing aboutt it is that it's just as over the top inside as outside. You truly needed a mad king to pull that off, no wonder Disney ripped it off.

Château de Vufflens

R75 That’s Doc Brown’s house!

Fountain Place downtown Dallas

The church in Hungary is wacky but very cool, R66.

Radcliffe Camera

Hotel de Soubise

LVMH building NYC

Court of Cassation Paris

41 Cooper Square

E.V. Haughwout Building

Gaudi. Sagrada Familia. Completion date scheduled for 2026. It’s been under construction for 100 years!

They must be using my contractor.

Sagrada Familia has a very creative, impressive interior.

That's weird. When I put the url in Google search, the photo comes up but it doesn't work on DL. Let'r try another link.

Oh crap. It automatically goes into the download file. I give up.

I think Sagrada Familia looks better now, when it's half-finished. That huge central tower (which is going to be the highest church tower in the world) looks a bit too much for me and totally overshadows all those fine side facades and towers.

Another problem is that Gaudi's original plans were destroyed during the Spanish Civil War so big portions of the building have absolutely nothing to do with Gaudi.

Why is it taking so long - lack of funding? Is it Barcelona's equivalent of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine?

R70 - thanks for the tip on the Mission. Will have to make a journey there some time.

Also the crazy Hungary church is cool.

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jatiya sangsad bhaban

Lovely pic of NYC skyline

That is really wild, R101. Love it.

40 Wall Street

The Hilton in Buenos Aires

Wisteria garlanded 143 West 81st Street

OP would lover the Wiener houses in Shreveport.

R6 would love the old courthouse in Evansville, Indiana

R106 Gorgeous. That reminds me of this house I saw in Hallstatt, which had a pear tree climbing up its facade.

R107 You're right, I love it. That house would look great with a new coat of painting.

The ugliest building in each state per the populace

The Nasir al-Mulk mosque in Shiraz, Iran, also called the "Mosque of Whirling Colors"

At night

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Madir, Toronto.

The Chemosphere aka the house in Body Double

Camp Topridge in the Adirondacks

Via 57 West

Yeah, "groundbreaking," R11, except that that weasel basically ripped off Michael Graves and even stole the Chippendale roof from the William Van Alen building that used to be on the site (as exposed by Christopher Gray).

Nether Lypiatt Manor, a perfectly proportioned modest Neo-Classical manor in Gloucestershire. It also happens to be the former home of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.

Niemeyer's Art museum building in Rio

Its location is stunning as well:

Another view:

Villa Farnesina Rome

Because I love my deluxe apartment in the sky.

Speyer Cathedral

Cornelius Vanderbilt II mansion, formerly at the NW corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street. It was the largest private residence ever built in New York. Demolished a long time ago to make way for Bergdorf Goodman.

Donald's

My absolute favorite:

R120 How much more beautiful that view would be without that pavilion from the '64-'65 New York World's Fair. What's in it? An exhibition of Monsanto products?

De Waag

The Chrysler Building, NYC

R129 - I love that building too. And it’s location on the square. Glad that area has gotten better over the years.

I love that there are now 2 great gay bars on Zeedijk. Sitting at the Queens Head looking over the canal and old buildings is my nirvana.

Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge

Clare College and King's College Chapel from the Backs, Cambridge.

Can you imagine studying here?

1) The palace at Versailles. The extravagance of the architecture, interior and gardens is astonishing.

2) Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna.

3) Winter Palace in St Petersburg.

St Mark's Basilica in Venice.

I love the cathedrals of England - Durham, Salisbury and Winchester. Durham Cathedral has the most amazing location.

The modern buildings posted on this thread fill me with despair and leave me cold. Give me ancient brick and stone any time. These old buildings warm my heart.

Jean Nouvel's pavilion for Jane's carousel in Brooklyn Bridge Park

Jane's carousel at night

Villa Tugendhat

Stuckey's was always a welcome structure.

Mont St. Michel in France

i am too lazy to go image-hunting (i know i'm a bad person because of this), but

sacre coeur in brussels,

harpa in reykjavik,

hedwig cathedral in berlin (i know it's nothing special, technically, but i SO love the interior)

the engineer's castle in st petersburg

aaannnnddd.......

PENA PALACE IN SINTRA, PORTUGAL!!!111

(ahem...)

honorable mentions: st paul's, sagrada familia

but i'm only counting those i've visited. there are many more that are (probably even more) amazing that i've seen in pictures... but yeah. i know there are fantastic modern buildings in valencia, spain.... and some people posted really cool pictures of buildings in macau and azerbaijan upthred that really made me go 'WOW'. hopefully i'll see them one day

2 more honorable mentions:

temppeliaukio church in helsinki and glasgow university.

and actually i loved so many buildings in brussels... the royal greenhouses were GLORIOUS; the laeken temple, the sablon church etc.

and do the fisherman's bastion in budapest qualify as A building? now that place was beyond awesome...

Has anybody mentioned Sans Souci in Potsdam? P/venez a c/100.

56 Leonard Street New York

R148 Yuck. It was this kind of novelty architecture that totally ruined NY skyline.

A small detail in the grand scheme of things but how would they clean the windows on that?

I disagree. It's different enough to be interesting but not so crazy that it's an eyesore. New York has enough plain glass or stone boxes.

No that is most definitely an eyesore. In fact I'd go further and call it un pugno nell'occhio.

Well then we have a difference in taste. You like bland buildings.

R141 There’s a novel inspired by Villa Tugendhat called The Glass Room, it was on the list for the Booker Prize in 2009.

R154 That book really describes the house in great detail so it's fun to read it before actually visiting it (by the way, it's a really popular attraction so you have to buy your tickets months and months in advance online). But speaking of the book itself, it was a fun read until that stupid lesbian subplot with Hedy Lamarr - that felt like something a horny douchebro would come up with.

r151, I love modern architecture when it is beautiful and—and this is important—looks as if it is made to last. That building was purposely designed to look like a stack of unevenly arranged boxes of crackers that have no hope of not blowing away if the wind gets too fierce.

It is as r152 describes it, a punch in the eye.

R138 The interior of Durham Cathedral is used for Elizabeth's palace in the movie starring Cate Blanchett. I recall that Durham topped a poll of the finest buildings in Britain a few years ago.

Most modern buildings have more to do with the architect's ego and will not maintain their reputation. I suspect once the sheen is gone and they start to deteriorate they'll lose whatever status they currently have.

My favorite buildings would have been the original Penn Station in New York and the Paradise Theater in Chicago.

Now it's Saint Sulpice in Paris.

ok so i'm the formerly picture-less non-contributor... i've decided to dig up some pictures.

here's basilica de sacre coeur in brussels. the 6th largest church in the world, i think... my memory's a bit hazy. it took almost the entire 20th century for them to build it. i like the green and i like the more modern details and more than anything i like how it completely dominates the city - it literally can't be ignored from anywhere in the city. it's ALWAYS THERE.... dun dun dunnn...

R159 - for some reason, that looks like it could be in Indiana or Missouri. I think it’s the brick and architectural style.

also from brussels... the royal greenhouses. the most beautiful thing ever built, obviously. it's like if fairies existed their king would live in a palace like this.

helsinki: temppeliaukio church.

ok so i tried to find some good pictures of the uuniversity of glasgow main building(s) but it jus looks dark and gloomy in photos so i dropped the idea. it has to be visited to understand how cool it is...

anyway, the humble interior of st hedwig's cathedral in berlin: from the outside it is obvious that the building is of the friedrich the great era, very baroque... but then you go inside and it's so different... it's so bare. and there is so much space and light in there and it's not stuffy and nothing about the interior is excessive. i loved it there

harpa in reykjavik... a wonderful concert hall. sadly, another one of those the beauty of which is hard to capture in photos... but well, here's a poor man's attempt to capture its fish scale like shimmer

budapest is a dream come true for the lovers of jugend/art nouveau buildings... but i'm not going to post any pictures of those (they are glorious, though)...

instead, may i present you the most iconic fisherman's bastion:

we're still in budapest... because the most magnificent parliament building in the world is one of its landmarks! there isn't a person living in the 1st world who hasn't seen a picture of it. i'd bet my... well, 20usd.

AND THE COOLEST ONE OF THEM ALL......

pena palace in sintra, portugal. ok so this photo has this really unfortunate watermark-like thing ruining it - i apologize for choosing it regardless! but it's the best picture i found in terms of giving an idea of the building's proportions and overall design. it has much more detail both on the outside and on the inside than these photos show, though... it's really a marvel...

honorable mentions (also in portugal): the massive monastery in lisbon. i'm... ugh, you'll have to look up its name on your own, though

The setting and imposing majesty of Windsor Castle.

[quote] if fairies existed

Are you new here?

Hope this link works. This is one of the architectural wonders of Barcelona not by Gaudi. I attended a classical guitar concert there in 2013. Your jaw drops open when you enter this hall. The Palau de la Música Catalana was built between 1905 and 1908 by the modernist architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner.

Excellent choices, R159 - R167. I haven't heard of most of these buildings.

I was born and raised in Winnipeg so my nostalgic favourite is the Manitoba Legislative Building built between 1913 and 1920. The cupola is surmounted by a massive statue of Hermes / Mercury called the Golden Boy because it's covered with 23.75 K gold leaf. The central staircase is flanked by two solid bronze life size bison. Throughout the building are design details associated with Masonic practices.

R172 So it that statue where Deanna Durbin got her nickname ("Winnipeg's Golden Girl") from? It sounds like it was a spin on that statue's name.

The JS Dorton Arena at the N.C. State Fairgrounds was the first building in the world to have a cable suspension roof. There are no interior columns but rather a roof suspended between two cantilevered arches.

R173. Thanks. I wasn't aware of the Deanna Durbin association , but it certainly sound plausible to me. My late father was a great fan of Deanna Durbin mainly because of her Winnipeg roots. His other favourite Winnipeg born diva, of a slightly later period , was Gisele Mackenzie.

I googled it and apparently I was right. This is from Deanna's wiki page:

[quote] Durbin was well known in Winnipeg, Manitoba (her place of birth), as "Winnipeg's Golden Girl" (a reference to one of the city's most famous landmarks, the statue Golden Boy atop the Manitoba Legislative Building).

R111 that is stunning!

r170 it's very cool!

r171 oh you make me blush

the mosque bu r111 reminded me...

the most well-known tehran landmark... the azadi tower. i've never been to iran so it's probably not quite right that i'm posting this of all people, but... (and it's a bad photo) here goes:

(there are so many reasons to visit tehran and iran in general despite the religion and intolerance problems...)

This one is still my favorite. Probably because I was so young and impressionable when I first walked into it. It also marks the beginning my journey as an art aficionado.

I’m so grateful that I was exposed to this at a young age. It shaped so much of who I became, and what brings me joy. It sparked an ongoing curiosity and appreciation of art, and architecture, very early on in my life.

I sometimes observe the differences between myself and my siblings, in regards as to what we enjoy, how we decorate, dress, and what we buy in terms of furniture, art, cars, etc. We are completely different, and I believe that those differences are due to what I was exposed to early on, that they were not exposed to, if at all.

We were all raised by the same, screwed up parents, but I was exposed to a culturally rich environment, that they were not exposed to, for a variety of reasons.

Joseph De Lamar house at 233 Madison Avenue

The home of the murdered Russian Royal Family, Tsarkoye Selo in St Petersburg.

The St Petersburg palaces always strike me as crayon colored versions of actual European palaces. Ornate and extravagant but a little more fluff than substance.

Eastern Columbia Building downtown LA

r184 I always liked the building (especially the color) too. I think it was converted to residential?

No other building dominates its city like this one.

My hubby, OP, because he's a briiiiiiiick....houuuuuuuuse!

Faded glory of the faded South. The crumbling ruins of Doris Duke's grandparents house.

R190 Dancing house in Prague?

6 Clarendon Crescent in Toronto - filming location for the sorority house in the 1974 horror film "Black Christmas"

The Royal Crescent in Bath

172 South McCadden Place, Los Angeles - filming location for "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane"

Wanamaker's department store, Philadelphia

Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower, Brooklyn

The horizontal skyscraper.

The Empire State Building. Classic Art Deco.

St. Chapelle, Paris

Interior of Radio City Music Hall. Amazed it's still there. A number of powerful people in the '70s wanted that real estate for development purposes. The great Roxy theater a block west did not escape that fate.

This one in my former city of Providence, RI - it's on Broadway.

R202 - that looks like it should be in San Francisco

Mine

Villa Blumenthal in Bad Ischl. It looks very creepy and yet very cosy and inviting at the same time.

Art Nouveau synagogue in Subotica, Serbia. It was falling apart since the end of WWII up until a few years ago when it was finally renovated. When the sunrays hit those glazed tiles on its roof it's really a sight to behold.

Daily Express building in Manchester

I know that FLW buildings have been mentioned, but this is my favorite. He also said it was his. His first concrete textile building, it was smallish to begin, but has been added to with a sensitive but rather horrible addition. La Miniatura as he called it was known as the Millard House. The owner was a rare books dealer with impeccable taste. R75 should be quite familiar, as it is around the corner from the Gamble house in Pasadena, another favorite.

R143, you beat me to it. It's one of my favorites.

R195 I always think of Mannequin when I see this place. Nonetheless, beautiful.

Mont St. Michel is a village, not a building.

Isn't it actually an island?

Who cares, it's still beautiful to someone.

It's a village with 50 inhabitants located on an eponymous island.

So I guess they don't have a 20 screen multiplex.

There must be a lot of inbreeding.

Technically it is a Tidal Island and because of their mystique many became places of veneration like Mont Saint-Michel.

R197 Wow ! It looks like the palace of a Byzantine emperor. Almost worth booking a trip to Brooklyn.

[quote]R195 I always think of Mannequin when I see this place. Nonetheless, beautiful.

When I saw that movie, I was impressed with the look of the department store. I looked up the filming location in the credits. I hadn't heard of it before. I visited it when I was in Philadelphia.

Kogod Courtyard, National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C.

[quote]R197 Wow ! It looks like the palace of a Byzantine emperor. Almost worth booking a trip to Brooklyn.

Hi Sanjay.

Is there any other choice?

My tower in NYC.

A great testament to a great man.

what am i, chopped liver?

Brighton Pavillion

Blue Mosque, Istanbul

Golden Pavillion, Kyoto

R224 Did you notice there's a fat lady in a burqa sitting on a balcony all alone in the left of the pic? But what a view of the mosque she must have had from there.

Rinascente department store, via del Tritone, Rome

Rinascente Tritone Rome

TWA Terminal. Idlewild Airport, NYC, 1962. Now the TWA Hotel at JFK.

The building understood its purpose. To enter it was to start your flight.