One of the most exciting things about traveling is looking at various city structures, which architectural lovers are bound to fall in love with.
Traveling around the U.S. is a rewarding experience for these enthusiasts to appreciate beautiful edifices. The U.S. architectural environment is more than two centuries, so you’ll find many Spanish or European architectural influences over the country.
You will be greeted with magnificent skyscrapers close to each other in busy cities making for spectacular city skylines. Whether you like historical styles or modern designs, the U.S. has a lot of beautiful structures for your viewing pleasure.
So if you are an architectural lover, these ten fascinating cities for Architectural enthusiasts in the USA should be on your bucket list.
Top 10 Cities For Architectural Enthusiasts In The U.S.
If you want to bless your eyes with impressive structures, these cities below will blow your mind away. These are the top cities for architectural enthusiasts in the U.S., so brace up as we take you on tour.
1. Boston, Massachusetts
Also known as the Puritan city, Bosten architectural design was influenced by the Puritans who arrived from Mayflower in England in 1962. Walking down the city’s central and narrow side streets, you’ll see beautiful Craftsman bungalows and stately Georgian and Victorian Tudors.
Some buildings that will take your breath away are the Federalist-style Massachusetts State House, the well-preserved colonial home of American revolutionary Paul Revere, and Faneuil Hall.
The Trinity Church was the first significant work of famous American architect Henry Hobson Richardson, the father of the “Richardsonian Romanesque” style with its round, masonry arches.
A few impressive modernist buildings also spread around the city. These include the Lindemann Center by Paul Rudolph and the brutalist-style Boston Government Center, known for his love of concrete and complicated floor plans.
The spaceship-like Kresge Auditorium by Finnish-American Bauhaus school architect Eero Saarinen and the surrealist Ray and Maria Stata Center by Frank Gehry also have admirable designs.
2. Washington D.C.
The political capital of the United States is a cosmopolitan city with buildings styles from Greece, Rome, France, the United Kingdom, and ancient Egypt.
The U.S. Capitol and the Jefferson Memorial are modeled after the Patheon in Rome. These two classical Roman-style buildings give Washington D.C. its royal and stately atmosphere.
The architect James Hoban, born in Ireland, designed the White House. It is said to be based on Leinster House, a Georgian-style estate in Dublin, Ireland. The 36 Doric columns of the Lincoln Memorial indicate that it was designed by the Greeks, while the pyramids of Egypt inspired the 600-foot-tall obelisk of the Washington Monument.
The Eisenhower Executive Office Building was designed in the Second Empire style, and the Smithsonian Institute, which looks like a castle from the Middle Ages, are two other captivating buildings in the city.
3. Palm Springs, California
Looking for Cities For Architectural Enthusiasts is Palm Springs, a desert resort city in southern California’s Sonoran Desert, is a haven for people who like mid-century modern architecture. It’s where architects John Lautner, Albert Frey, and Richard Neutra constructed some of their most famous “desert modernism” and International Style homes.
Because the city’s climate is dry and sunny, many homes have large glass doors, shaded verandas, roof planes that hang over, and large outdoor pools.
Some of the unique edifices in the city are Neutra’s Desert House, Frey’s Palm Springs City Hall, and William Krisel’s “House of Tomorrow,” where Elvis and Priscilla Presley spent their honeymoon in 1967. And Frank Sinatra’s “Twin Palms” Estate, which E. Stewart Williams designed.
These buildings show how cool southern California was during the baby boom.
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4. New Orleans, Louisiana
Many buildings in New Orleans are heavily influenced by Spanish, French, and Caribbean styles. But the Creole townhouse is the best example of the city’s architecture.
Creole townhouses, like the famous Miltenberger Houses, were built in the French Quarter after the Great New Orleans Fire of 1788. They have a romantic appeal, with steeply pitched parapet roofs, arcades, and ornate Spanish cast-iron balconies.
Aside from Creole townhouses, many other buildings here have older designs. The Renaissance and Spanish Colonial styles of St. Louis Cathedral, the oldest cathedral in the United States, and the Pontalba Buildings, which are two Parisian-style brick row houses designed by local architect James Gallier Sr.
The Doullut Steamboat Houses, which steamboat captains built during the steamboat era, are proof of New Orleans’ multicultural history.
5. New York City, New York
In his book “Slapstick,” published in 1976, American author Kurt Vonnegut called New York City a “Skyscraper National Park.”
America’s most-visited city has some of the world’s most impressive skyscrapers, such as the Flatiron Building, the Empire State Building, the Woolworth Building, the Chrysler Building, Walquist, and an Art Deco icon designed by Reinhard Hofmeister.
But it’s not just the tall buildings that make New York’s architecture so attractive. There are also striking newer buildings in the city, like the World Trade Center Transportation Hub by Santiago Calatrava and Thomas Heather wick’s “Vessel” tourist attraction, which looks like a honeycomb.
Remember the Ansonia Hotel, built in the Beaux Arts style, which is yet another beautiful structure. These and more make New York one of the top cities for architecture enthusiasts in the U.S.
6. Detroit, Michigan
The downtown area of Detroit has some of the best-preserved buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries in all of America. This is why it has one of the most instantly recognizable skylines in the United States.
Some of the most well-known architects of the Gilded Age, like Louis Kamper and Gordon Llyod, did a lot of work here.
Notable landmarks in the city include the Italian Renaissance-style Book Building and Book Cadillac Hotel by Kamper, the Penobscot Building and Guardian Building by Wirt C. Rowland, the Art Deco masterpieces like Fisher Building by Albert Kahnand the postmodern Neo-Gothic style One Detroit Center by Philip Johnson.
7. Santa Fe, New Mexico
The American Southwest is known for its natural beauty, which brings in artists and other outdoor enthusiasts. But some cities, such as Santa Fe, have transferred the area’s natural beauty in their architectural design.
The city is located in the middle of a high desert and has energy as unique as its architecture. It is one place to visit if you want that peculiar feeling like you’ve gone through a doorway into another world.
Its distinctive adobe brick homes set it apart from other North American cities. These homes remind people of the roughness of the Wild West.
This city has three main reddish-brown, mud-brick buildings designs: Spanish Revival, which has clay tile roofs, plaster walls, and decorative iron trims; Territorial Revival, which has flat roofs, sharp corners, and often brick-capped rooflines; and Pueblo Revival, with smooth, organic shapes and soft corners.
The best period to visit this city is during late spring and early fall to enjoy Santa Fe’s architectural wonders during nice weather.
8. Chicago, Illinois
Chicago has a long history of being innovative with its buildings. It is one of those Cities For Architectural Enthusiasts in the USA. The city is the origin of the “Chicago School” of commercial buildings, with skyscrapers built in the 1880s and 1890s that used steel frames in innovative ways.
And also where the “Second Chicago School” first emerged, with towers built from the 1940s to the 1970s that used new structural systems like the tube structure.
Here, fans of German-American Bauhaus master Ludwig Mies van der Rohe can see some of his most famous works. This includes the 860-880 Lake Shore Apartments and S.R. Crown Hall at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
The Brutalist Marina City by Bertrand Goldberg and the neo-Gothic Tribune Tower are also worth seeing. The Tribune Tower has a few famous buildings like the Angkor Wat, Taj Mahal, and the Great Wall of China embedded on the inside.
9. Charleston, South Carolina
Travelers who like historical architecture will like Charleston, which has a wide range of well-preserved historical buildings.
In the 18th century, the Colonial-style Old Exchange Building was used as a meeting place, a customs house, a public market, and a jail. It is currently a Daughters of the American Revolution museum.
The Heyward-Washington House is a double house in the Georgian style. It was the home of Thomas Heyward Jr., an American patriot and one of the four people who signed the Declaration of Independence.
Or, take a trip to the Fireproof Building, the oldest U.S. fireproof building, built in 1827 in the Greek Revival style. The building was designed by Robert Mills, the first domestically trained American architect.
10. San Francisco, California
The steep, hilly streets of San Francisco are lined with various Victorian-style buildings. The most common are Queen Anne-style houses built in the late 1800s, with bay windows and gingerbread trim.
Among the most photographed buildings are the Painted Ladies in Alamo Square and the Haas-Lilienthal House, which is sometimes open for tours.
The Gothic Revival and Tudor Revival are spectacular. An excellent example of these two architectural designs is the Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill and the Presidio Heights neighborhood.
Fans of modern architecture will be fascinated by the glass, concrete, and steel Transamerica Pyramid by William Pereira & Associates. And a beautiful sight of the majestic Xanadu Gallery, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, will mesmerize you all day.
Conclusion on Cities For Architectural Enthusiasts
Beautiful architectural designs are breathtaking and capable of holding enthusiasts spellbound. And the U.S. is home to these diverse historic and contemporary structures.
These top cities for architecture enthusiasts in the USA make it fun to live or take a trip to take in all the beauty these structures exude.
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