Stunning structures - post your favourite or most detested buildings

[Mr_Mac]

I'm a big Deco fan and it always raises my spirits when I walk down Collins or Ocean Drive and take in the fabulous tropical versions of American Deco.







They look fabulous at night too...



Isn’t Tesco behind it? Sure the building itself was being converted into flats last time I drove past.

The Deco building in England that gets my juices going has always been the Hoover factory on Western Avenue....




I haven't been around there for a good while and believe it is a Tesco's now.

[E_2_Right-Force]

This house has always had an effect on me - George Bests` place in Cheshire, 1970`s.
I was but a nipper in those days and we lived a few miles away, i can always remember making a point of looking out of the window when passing in the family car as my dad would announce that `George Bests` house is coming up`.
With it`s white-tiled exterior cladding my mother said it looked like a public toilets.



The house is still there - you can see it on Google maps, but is unrecognisable after much alteration, which is a shame...

[hoopsontoast]

Like many others, I grew up lusting after Frank Lloyd Wright houses, always had calenders on the wall, and I really love his more 'modest' designs like this one. Its just a lovely mix of the warm dark wood, lovely light and solid red brick features. Really helps feel warm and inviting even with lots of open windows, hard surfaces.

http://www.midcenturyhome.com/frank-...leighey-house/




Then his larger houses, like Robie House, just stunning!

[benny.c]

Seeing Verv’s photos reminded me of this place we stumbled on in the Netherlands - Radio Kootwijk. As well as being a fascinating building, it is made all the more interesting by being in the arse end of nowhere. It looks so out of place in an otherwise completely flat, uninhabited area.

[thieuster]

Seeing Verv’s photos reminded me of this place we stumbled on in the Netherlands - Radio Kootwijk. As well as being a fascinating building, it is made all the more interesting by being in the arse end of nowhere. It looks so out of place in an otherwise completely flat, uninhabited area.

Only 5 miles away from my home! It's style is the 'Amsterdamse School', but I think that Luthman (the architect) had an open eye to the east as well: Berlin. I've never been inside the building. I had two pupils in class (boy and later his younger sister) who live a few minutes up the road from where this pic is taken. The scenery isn't so desolated as you might think. Kootwijk is a little village, more a hamlet on the edge of woodlands and heath-lands. The small houses were originally built for employees.

The building was there for radio transmissions between The Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies. The building was unused for years and was nominated to be pulled down. Currently there are voices to stop the influx of tourists...

[benny.c]

Thanks for the info

On the day we visited the place was open, I think for a film crew. Although I guess I shouldn’t have I wandered in with a few random people and had a decent look around. Fabulous building and a real surprise. I think we drove through the village on the way there.

It would be a shame to see it demolished but then I’m not local!

[thieuster]

I used to live in a town up north: Zwolle. The former Provincial High Court building is transformed into a Museum: the Fundatie. On top of the existing roof, there's now a dome with special clay tiles. The sun (or absence of the sun) determines the look-and-feel of the dome. It took a while... before I got used to the 'in your face' appearance of the dome after seeing the building without the bulb for more than 15 yrs!

[thieuster]

... and then there's this: the HQ of a large building company. One of the brothers, the owner of the company + building is a frequent visitor of the workshop (he owns the admiralty grey Alfa Romeo Typo 8 I once showed here)

Is is Gaudi? No it is Hundertwasser, an Austrian architect. The building is built around 2000. And the brothers wanted to pay a homage to Hundertwasser. I think that they've succeeded. It is not my taste, but I can admire the guts to build something like this!

[Gruntfuttock]

We have just spent a few days up in Edinburgh. A beautiful city for architecture but we went to see Holyrood parliament building out of curiosity. It is brutally ugly on the outside but the interior is quite the opposite:

https://goo.gl/images/Sb9BDW

[VDG]

Speaking of Frank Lloyd Wright, an absolute classic - the Guggenheim Museum building was probably the one which left on me the most lasting impression when I was ten or eleven and shaped my love for the modern, quirky architecture. Mind you I was a very impressionable child.

[demonloop]

It's not big and grand or sexy but I've always loved the McCallister house at the Ulster American Folk Park. Some day I'll live in something inspired by this:

About 5 miles from where I sit. It does have a certain charm, I agree.

[Ashtennisguru]

I think London has some of the most interesting architecture around, these 2 are still favourites...

More Shard (Explored) by Ash Smith, on Flickr

Gherkin & Scalpel by Ash Smith, on Flickr

[gregory]

Not taken by me... but of all the buildings in the world... this has something that excites me.


I have seen it a couple of times too.... whilst in NYC.



It just has 'charm.'


I have sat atop the Empire State, the World Trade Center... but the Flatiron Building just works for me.


Greg. :)






More info:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatiron_Building

[Chalet]

I’d agree, taken by me in 2001, scanned from a print.

[pacifichrono]

The Geisel Library on the campus of the University of California San Diego:

[SimonK]

Airship hangars you say?

Here are a couple of snaps I took at the former Weeksville Naval Air Station, just outside Elizabeth City, North Carolina. When Airship Industries closed down (due to Alan Bond's financial difficulties), one of the founders took over the US operation which was running profitably and created Airship Management Services Inc. I visited the US base as the CEO was a friend of a friend and I came close to joining the company, even considering getting a CPL (Airships) so I could pilot them - how mental is that?

The prints are not date stamped, but I think it is early 2000. The hangar is steel and originally stood next to a wooden hangar which was, apparently, even more impressive, but sadly burned to the ground in the mid nineties.

Anyway, the Fuji liveried airship in the picture is a Skyship 500, the same as appeared in A View to a Kill (Zorin Industries). It is dwarfed in the hangar, but it is 170 feet long and 61 feet high, which gives some idea of the scale of the building. Fun fact, the Skyship 500 is propelled by twin Porsche boxer engines.

[me32dc]

Awesome post.

Personally I love Soviet and abandoned buildings.



Prize if anyone can guess where this was taken.

[mtagrant]

Always found the toastrack in Manchester interesting:
https://goo.gl/images/yPUiJp

Aside from that, the Palace of Westminster is always a favourite as is Capitol Hill in Washington

[hogthrob]

I may be one of the few that is a fan of the 'walkie talkie' building. As you walk down Fenchurch Street, it looms in a vertigo inducing manner.

[jools]

What a great theme for a thread. Here's the Gallarus Oratory on the Dingle Peninsula, which I visited some years back.



Castle Drogo is another impressive building, but a lot younger:

[Velorum]

Great thread!

Ive always been drawn to The Battleship Building in Paddington

[verv]

Whoa Simon!

[Velorum]

The iconic GPO tower has been a favourite of mine since I first saw it shortly after its completion

(...yes, I know it the 'BT Tower' now, but to me it will always be the GPO Tower)



Such as shame that the rotating restaurant is no longer in operation

[Caruso]

[Caruso]

Such as shame that the rotating restaurant is no longer in operation

I think it is still in operation, just not open to the public. Used for BT corporate and client events.

[Robsmck]

About 5 miles from where I sit. It does have a certain charm, I agree.

I plan a visit with the robsmcklets to the folk park in the summer. Worth the trip from Co Down?

[Bristolian]

The like of this in London (33 Bury Street).

Why do I like it? It encapsulates my mental picture of the best bits of the London landscape. It is a statement of self-confidence and stylish restraint - a sort of Kent & Haste suit, in stone and brick. Others might build willy-shaped skyscrapers, but in Edwardian London, the Crown Estate felt obliged to please no-one but themselves.

A lot of buildings in St James are gems - the old RBS (or was it Barclays) Bank on Piccadilly with the Chinese interior was breathtaking, as a bank. As a gazillionaires restaurant, not so much.

Recently refurbed - the architects' website gives a great view of the interiors. http://morrowlorraine.com/33-bury-street/

[PickleB]

I'm a big Deco fan and it always raises my spirits when I walk down Collins or Ocean Drive and take in the fabulous tropical versions of American Deco.

...images etc...

Have you ever visited Cincinnati Union Terminal:

...? See Wiki for external and other views.

[golf]

Image1526135121.466628.jpg
Drive past this everyday love it. Has peregrine falcons nesting at the top.


Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app

[Mr Curta]

I have always loved the Commonwealth Institute on Kensington High Street.
I grew up a short walk away and used to like popping in there as a kid.
It was derelict for years until the design museum moved in. Ironically they ruined the interior which was fantastic design in its original guise.

That's a blast from the past! It was one of my gran's standards when taking me and my brother for a day out in London in the '70s. I loved exploring the now destroyed multi-level interior, and I'm sure that the exhibits fuelled my wanderlust.

[Mr Curta]

Most Incan architecture is impressive, but the colossal yet intricate polygonal masonry of the citadel of Sacsayhuamán tops the lot.

[Neil.C]

Have you ever visited Cincinnati Union Terminal:

...? See Wiki for external and other views.

No I haven't, but I'd love to! Looks fabulous.

[The Doc]

Philip Johnson's Glass House in New Canaan is wonderful



The other buildings on the site such as Da Monsta are also incredible.

Unlivable in, from my point of view

I rented a mega house a while back with a 15mx15m lounge that was glass on three sides. In the evenings it was a horrible space as the outside seemed to be peering in and we never got a cosy feeling at all. There were no neighbours, so the owner didn't fit blinds or curtains, there was a silly all-glass wood burner in the middle which took about a tonne of wood a week to feed. A 60" telly didn't do much to close the space down and we used to push all the furniture to the corner and kind-of make a den....

The hard edges, glass, transparency, and lack of architectural warmth solidified in my mind the opinion that architects can design fancy stuff with fancy materials, but to live in this space is quite something else, once the cheques have been written and the builders skips removed, that's it.

Perhaps I'm destined for houses with low ceilings, wood beams and cosyness....

anyhow, I couldn't design or build this sort of thing, so credit where credit is due, I just put people back together again.

[E_2_Right-Force]

Prize if anyone can guess where this was taken.

Croydon.

[ptcoll]

I wouldn't say I detest this one, but I don't really like it, and I see it quite often. It's the "new" Birmingham Library.

Certainly better than the one it replaced though.

Pete

[Mr Curta]

Another favourite is the Pseudo Moorish Vijećnica in Sarajevo. It is as much about the needless destruction and subsequent rebirth that it has come to represent as the architecture.




Here's the iconic 1992 image of Vedran Smailović playing cello in the ruins.

[chrisparker]

I may be one of the few that is a fan of the 'walkie talkie' building. As you walk down Fenchurch Street, it looms in a vertigo inducing manner.

I'm not that taken with the exterior but was impressed by the interior. The sky garden is a brilliant public space and amazing that it's a free to visit.

[Hood]

When I pass this in Maryhill Glasgow(very tough area) I am always taken by it.
Mural on the gable end of a tenament.

[benny.c]

I wouldn't say I detest this one, but I don't really like it, and I see it quite often. It's the "new" Birmingham Library.

Certainly better than the one it replaced though.

Pete

I always thought that it looked like a stack of those decorative metal tissue boxes that you sometimes see in the back of taxis.

[TBKBABAB]

Am also a fan of the Flat iron building and 2 of my other NY favourites in the same photo



and some details


Also difficult to find a photo which does this justice compared with real world view



Most detested

[jaytip]

It looks like it’s floating.

[me32dc]

Croydon.

Very close, Pripyat Chernobyl the supermarket in the centre of town.

[Mr Curta]

Is is Gaudi? No it is Hundertwasser, an Austrian architect.

More gaudy than Gaudi.

[PickleB]

More gaudy than Gaudi.

The District Heating Plant Spittelau, Wien, is another Hundertwasser design. It gets it's own entry on TripAdvisor (link) with a 4+ rating...the gallery on their site is worth a browse to see some of the details. Apparently it has recently been updated and refurbished.

I remember this being a point of reference going into town on a visit to Vienna. The Hundertwasserhaus is more central.

[poppy]

I really like this building. It is quite ugly but I still like it. It must have looked incredible to people when it was first erected and there are parts of it which look positively space age even now.

Depending on where you are stood, it looks like the outside of a football stadium, a cheap spanish holiday complex or a soviet power station.

I have spent a lot of time hanging around here in the last couple of years and it was quite a pleasant evening when I took these photos earlier.

The Brunswick in London

[eagletower]

I really like this building. It is quite ugly but I still like it. It must have looked incredible to people when it was first erected and there are parts of it which look positively space age even now.

Depending on where you are stood, it looks like the outside of a football stadium, a cheap spanish holiday complex or a soviet power station.

I have spent a lot of time hanging around here in the last couple of years and it was quite a pleasant evening when I took these photos earlier.

The Brunswick in London

Me too . I used to work down the road from here 12 years ago and loved the look of this building.

[thieuster]

Belgian architect Victor Horta has done great things for Brussel. His buildings are hard-core Jugendstil, so to speak. Here a pic of a few homes + interior. A lot of these wonderful buildings are converted into small, high-end hotels and they must be worth a stay, according to the pics.

[Mr Nuttington]

I'm quite surprised that we have got to almost 100 posts without a mention of Zaha Hadid's work worldwise; totally bonkers, utterly impossible to construct conventionally and always an aesthetic challenge. The Glasgow Transport Museum, the Investcorp Building for St Anthony's College, Oxford and the London 2012 Aquatics Centre are UK examples of her work, the first two of which my employer had a major involvement with. Sadly she left this world in 2016 but what a legacy she has left.

Another new UK building (not even open yet) that is going to generate headlines is the V&A Museum in Dundee, designed by Japanese Architect Kengo Kuma. Will be interesting to see if the headlines are positive or otherwise...

[Papa Hotel]

The Nuraghe Su Nuraxi in Sardinia is something worth seeing. Sadly described as "little more than a pile of rocks" in the stupid guidebook I bought, it is so much more. A fantastic stone fort surrounded by dozens of tiny stone huts, the place is bizarre looking at it with 21st century eyes.

[Bristolian]

Belgian architect Victor Horta has done great things for Brussel. His buildings are hard-core Jugendstil, so to speak. Here a pic of a few homes + interior. A lot of these wonderful buildings are converted into small, high-end hotels and they must be worth a stay, according to the pics.

That's lovely - theres some superb 19/20th C domestic architecture in Belgium.