BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere

Subject: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 01 Aug 14 - 12:27 PM

≈≈Grr·ROARrr·Rrr!≈≈

I have been much enjoying the Most Beautiful Building in Britain thread. Have kept thinking of ones to put up, then realising they are not in Britain but elsewhere. I thought there must have been a World's Most Beautiful Building thread some time, but couldn't find one.

So -- Your favourite beautiful buildings anywhere?

Obviously, Taj Mahal in Agra & Alhambra in Granada come high for me. Less well-known, probably, the exquisite Yonghegong Lamasery in Beijing, perhaps the most beautiful individually I have ever visited.

Two that I love in New York:- Predictably, The Chrysler Building. Less well-known, but I always find most decoratively impressive, the beautiful skyscraper that dominates that delightful little square called Bryant Park, behind the Public Library, at 40th-42nd between 5th & 6th:-
" The American Radiator Building (since renamed to the American Standard Building) is a landmark skyscraper located at 40 West 40th Street, in midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was conceived by the architects John Howells and Raymond Hood in 1924 and built for the American Radiator Company" (Wikipedia: title American Radiator Building; illustrated). Now, I think, converted to the Bryant Park Hotel.

And that beautiful circular skyscraper with the crown on top in LA. Called the LA Library Tower when I was last there in 2004, but I daresay name changed since then.

Your nominations?

~Michael~

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 01 Aug 14 - 12:47 PM

Three choices in LA
Eastern Columbia building at Broadway and 9th streets. A deep turquoise, art deco building (see pix at wiki'a). Now lofts and offices.
E.C. - smaller version of same in the town of Huntington Park, about 10 miles south of the above.
Wiltern Theatre building at Wilshire and Western, home to my favorite first run movie palace through my college years. A soaring (for the era it was built) turquoise art deco building. May still be used as a rock concert venue.

You might think I have a thing for turquoise.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 01 Aug 14 - 12:48 PM

Taos Pueblo.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: Rapparee
Date: 01 Aug 14 - 01:18 PM

Fallingwater.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 01 Aug 14 - 05:08 PM

I can think of a few cities where I've been ~~ Venice, Innsbruck, NY & Chicago skyscraper districts, Milan, Florence, Jerusalem, Barcelona, Lisbon, Rome, Paris, Moscow, St Petersburg ~~ parts of which have so many lovely buildings in succession that one just keeps one's eyes constantly open as one walks about...

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: GUEST,jts
Date: 01 Aug 14 - 10:22 PM

I like the Sears Tower, The new WTC is also impressive.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 02 Aug 14 - 04:58 AM

Of them all, I'd have to say it's a toss up between The Urnes Stave Church (though I must confess the closest I've been in recent years is the plaster casts of the famous doors in the Cast Courts of the V&A) and The Edward Eccles Church Hall in Earsdon.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: GUEST,pete from seven stars link
Date: 02 Aug 14 - 06:08 PM

while on unusual choices, how about the tin tabernacle, hythe, kent.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 02 Aug 14 - 06:10 PM

Nice Thread - thank you for starting it.

Burj Al Arab - Dubai

http://www.engineeringcivil.com/burj-al-arab-one-of-the-best-civil-engineering-works.html



French National Library - Paris - (you MUST go inside to appreciate)

Bibliothetheque Mitterrand

http://www.bnf.fr/fr/acc/x.accueil.html



Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque - Abu Dahbi

http://www.visitabudhabi.ae/en/what.to.see/attractions/sheikh.zayed.grand.mosque.aspx



Bradbury Building - Los Angeles CA (you MUST go inside to appreciate)

http://www.justenaj.com/blogs/the-enaj/13136597-the-bradbury-building-in-downtown-los-angeles



And of course - the Dutch Cube Houses ...

http://www.themodernhouseblog.net/2013/02/27/house-of-the-week-piet-bloms-cube-houses-rotterdam/



(second posting attempt....forgot (and it is a good reason) Guests cannot post hypertext linked addresses.) [fixed 'em -Joe-]


Sincerely,
Gargoyle

   Some universities offer a degree in "Social Ecology" that include a course "Architecture as a Restoritive Event." IMHO - the Brits lost their "edge" shortly after Stonehenge.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: GUEST,Roseline
Date: 02 Aug 14 - 06:14 PM

LIC tower near the Marina Beach (Chennai, India)

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Aug 14 - 06:30 PM

While I was "blickifying" the post from John on the Sunset Coast, I came across a page from Preservation Arts, a company that does restorations in California. The photos of buildings they've preserved are remarkable. It's a collection of many of my favorite California buildings.

I couldn't find photos of the Eastern Columbia Building in Huntington Park, John. I think I've seen both many times over the years, but I really wasn't aware there were two.

As for my own favorite building, I think it would be the Hungarian Parliament building in Budapest.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: bobad
Date: 02 Aug 14 - 06:58 PM

I haven't seen it in person but it's on my bucket list: Sacrada Familia or anything designed by Antoni Gaudí for that matter, like Casa Batlló

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: Mrrzy
Date: 02 Aug 14 - 10:42 PM

Lots of things by my mom's uncle...

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 03 Aug 14 - 12:05 AM

Joe, what is 'blickify'? Well whatever it is, I just spent a half-hour trying to find a picture of EC in HP. No luck.

The building is a 4 or 5 story companion to the main store. In the 1970s it housed a purveyor of freight damaged and otherwise liquidated goods. That business turned out to be owned by a college cum poker playing friend, as I found out when I cold-called the business as a possible customer.

The last time I was in the area, about ten years ago, the building had become fairly seedy; the ground floor housed a 99.99 Cent Only store (commercial!).

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Aug 14 - 01:20 AM

Hi, John-
At various times in Mudcat's past, hyperlinks have been called "blue clickys" or "blickys."
See the link maker on the bottom right corner of the reply box on this page. If you hover over the link, you will see it's called a "blickifier."
But we purists do HTML by hand, and don't use no blicky-wicky things...
Now you know.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 03 Aug 14 - 01:58 AM

Bobad ~~ Yes, indeed; many thanks for reminder of the incomparable Gaudi. Valerie & I once spent a week in Barcelona, mainly visiting the various masterpieces of his all around the city. We stayed at Hotel Gaudi in Nou de las Ramblas: probably not the best hotel in town, but seemed a good idea at the time; and it was right opposite Palau Güell!

≈M≈

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 03 Aug 14 - 03:12 AM

Here is some Eastern Columbia building for you Joe.

Historical Preservatio

http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/eastern-columbia-building

Photos

www.pinterest.com/slynnrich/eastern-columbia-building-los-angeles-ca/


Huell Howzer California Gold # 108, Chapman University Collection


www.blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/2007/09/11/eastern-columbia-building-downtown-108/


Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Barcelona is on my bucket list.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 03 Aug 14 - 03:48 AM

I went to the Sagrada Familia in 1963. You could climb up to the top of all the towers and cross all the walkways, coming across strange animals and gargoyles here, there and averywhere. I put a few pesetas in the tin towards further building.
I went again in 1992 and it was twice as big, so my few pesetas had not been wasted. You could still wander up and down all over the older half.
I must go again some time and find out how much more has been built, and whether you can still climb around in at least part of it.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: Stu
Date: 03 Aug 14 - 10:53 AM

I went to New York in 2001 (had dinner at the tope of WTC 1 a week before it came down), and had an architectural epiphany. This was helped by a Frank Gehry exhibition at the Guggenheim that I entered as someone with a passing interest in architecture and left with my eyes wide open.

In New York the Chrysler Building viewed from the Empire State viewing platform was incredible. The buildings of Central Park south are one of my favourite combinations I've ever seen.

In Chicago I loved the John Hancock Tower, and these two circular towers with the parking at the bottom next to the river (go on the architectural cruise if you're in the city - it is fantastic).

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 03 Aug 14 - 12:34 PM

Gargoyle, we have those picture, and others. The building we can't find a pictures of is (or maybe now was) on Pacific Avenue near the north end of Huntington Park. I have one other possible resource for finding a picture...the Los Angeles Central Library.

Hope you do get to Barcelona. It is a wonderful, picturesque city.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 03 Aug 14 - 01:23 PM

And for that matter -- how about the Guggenheim itself? Astonishing place!

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 Aug 14 - 01:42 PM

Some places entranced me especially at night- the Plaza Mayor, Madrid- Google for pictures.
Guild houses, Grote Markt, Amsterdam

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 03 Aug 14 - 01:55 PM

And the buildings all round the Grande Place in Brussels.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 04 Aug 14 - 04:13 AM

Milano Centrale railway station

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 04 Aug 14 - 01:00 PM

Aya Sofia in Istanbul. Not just a beautiful building, but living history, and a Christian domed church that ironically set the standard for all Mosques built after.
La Mezquita, the great Cathedral of Cordoba with its myriad of arches and pillars.
The Parthenon, because it set the standard for Western Architecture for millennia afterwards, and because of its elegance and visual impact.
The Great Amphitheater of Ephesus.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 04 Aug 14 - 01:08 PM

Ah -- and not just the Parthenon, but all the temples on the Acropolis.

≈M≈

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: GUEST,FLW
Date: 04 Aug 14 - 01:39 PM

"I haven't seen it in person but it's on my bucket list: Sacrada Familia" - Bobad

Sorry, but I don't like Gaudi's architecture one bit.
To me it's gaudy in the true sense.
Barfff!

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: Gda Music
Date: 04 Aug 14 - 01:54 PM

Architectural beauty is in the eye of the freeholder.

GJ

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 04 Aug 14 - 03:05 PM

I can see why anyone should not like Gaudi's architecture, as it is indubitably idiosyncratic. I love it myself -- particularly that astonishing effect he gets of the stonework melting. But, like all such personal styles, it is liable to attract as much obloquy as admiration.

≈M≈

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 04 Aug 14 - 03:33 PM

Love Gaudi - nutty beautiful
Some of the most beautiful building I have been into were in Northern Greece.
One church, can't remember where, but I will, was built into a hollow to escape the notice of the rampaging Turks.
Because it's low situation ruined the acoustic, hollow pillars with gridded covers we built throughout the interior to cathch the sound of the singing, sort of architectural equivalent of cupping your hand over your ear when you sing.
Apart from the stunning natural beauty of Meteora, some of the tiny primitively-built and decorated monasteries on the top of the rock mounds leave you breathless.
Not really one for churches, but Monreal cathedral , in Sicily really is something else.   
Beautiful enough from the outside, when you get inside you find there is hardly an inch of space that hasn't been painted, even inside the window recesses.
Unfortunately, amid all this breathtaking beauty, some bright spark has een fir to site a 20 odd ft neon cross slap in the middle opposite the main altar
God preserve us - so to speak.
Quite liked the Grand Mosque in Cairo, and the hermitage in (what was, when I was there) Leningrad.
And then, of course, there's The George, on Borough High Street in Southwark.
Where do you stop....?
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 04 Aug 14 - 04:52 PM

It is possible to love things, and buildings (and people, especially people), without finding them beautiful. I don't think the Sagrada Familia is beautiful, but it is fascinating and I love it. Most cathedrals do not appeal to me, though I am overwhelmed by the knowledge that some were created hundreds of years ago with much simpler methods and equipment than we have now, and I agree that they are beautiful. I would be very unhappy if they were destroyed, but I don't love them. I prefer small, simple churches with very little decoration.

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: Kampervan
Date: 04 Aug 14 - 05:09 PM

The Italian Chapel on Lamb Holm in the Orkney Islands.


http://www.orkneycommunities.co.uk/ITALIANCHAPEL/

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: GUEST,OldNicKilby
Date: 05 Aug 14 - 08:35 AM

The Rookery Building in Chicago and Monona Terace in Madison- Frank l Wright any of Gaudi's buildings in Barcelona but top of my list has to be the Ernest Gimson Houses in Leicestershire

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: bubblyrat
Date: 06 Aug 14 - 04:59 AM

I love Antwerpen , which I shall be visiting next month ;the Cathedral is magnificent ,and I could look at/ listen to the bell tower for hours.I also like the railway station interior.Yesterday I watched a programme called "Italy Unpacked" with chef Georgio Locatelli and art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon on a visit to Milan Cathedral ; Wow ! ; must go there one day !!

Subject: RE: BS: Favourite Beautiful Buildings Anywhere
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 06 Aug 14 - 05:42 AM

IIRC -- & I once lived for 2 months (Aug-Sep 1954) right opposite, on far corner of Konigin Astrid Plein -- the Antwerp Central Station itself is a pretty impressive gothic structure --

"now widely regarded as the finest example of railway architecture in Belgium" - Wikipedia

≈M≈