Architectural Record's 250 Years of American Architecture Survey
To mark America's 250th anniversary, Architectural Record invited leading architects and educators to nominate the most significant works of American architecture. The resulting list spans from Thomas Jefferson's University of Virginia (1819–25) to the Thomas P. Murphy Design Studio Building in Miami (2018), covering 25 iconic structures. Notable entries include Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum (1959) and Fallingwater (1937), Louis Kahn's Salk Institute (1965) and Kimbell Art Museum (1972), Renzo Piano's Menil Collection (1987), and the Chrysler Building (1930) by William Van Alen. The survey also includes less conventional choices like the Levittown house (1947–71) and Twin Oaks Community (1967). Each nomination is accompanied by a brief essay from a practitioner or scholar explaining the building's significance. The collection reflects diverse perspectives on what makes architecture American, from democratic ideals and technological innovation to social histories and landscape integration.
Key facts
- Architectural Record published a survey of 25 significant American buildings for the Semiquincentennial.
- Contributors include Paul Goldberger, Annabelle Selldorf, Sarah Whiting, and Peter Eisenman.
- Buildings range from 1819 to 2018, covering styles from classical to modern to postmodern.
- Thomas Jefferson's University of Virginia is the oldest selected, noted for its 'academical village' concept.
- Frank Lloyd Wright appears twice: Guggenheim Museum and Fallingwater.
- Louis Kahn appears three times: Salk Institute, Phillips Exeter Academy Library, and Kimbell Art Museum.
- The Chrysler Building was the world's tallest for 11 months after its 1930 completion.
- The Levittown house is included for its influence on postwar suburban development.
- Twin Oaks Community (1967) is recognized for dissolving architecture into social ecology.
- The survey includes the Schindler Chace House (1922), considered the first modern house in North America.
Entities
Artists
- Thomas Jefferson
- Frank Lloyd Wright
- Louis Kahn
- Renzo Piano
- William Van Alen
- Marcel Breuer
- Eero Saarinen
- Albert Frey
- Rudolph M. Schindler
- Frank Gehry
- Greene & Greene
- John C. Portman Jr.
- James Gamble Rogers
- Herbert Dickens Ryman
- Dorothea Holt Redmond
- Gerhard Kallmann
- Michael McKinnell
- Bruce Graham
- Walter Netsch
- Henry Hobson Richardson
- Le Corbusier
- Charles Sumner Greene
- Henry Mather Greene
- Eliel Saarinen
- Kat Kinkade
- Hideo Sasaki
- Peter Rice
- Richard Fitzgerald
- José Luis Sert
- Jonas Salk
- Pauline Schindler
- Louis Sullivan
- Stanford White
- Walter Chrysler
- David B. Gamble
- Dominique de Menil
- John de Menil
- Nelson A. Rockefeller
- Arthur Hadley
- Ray Eames
- Charles Eames
- B. F. Skinner
- Fredric Jameson
- Alfred Hitchcock
Institutions
- Architectural Record
- University of Virginia
- Guggenheim Museum
- Menil Collection
- Salk Institute
- Chrysler Building
- Phillips Exeter Academy Library
- Whitney Museum of American Art
- Cinderella Castle
- Walt Disney World
- Magic Kingdom
- Boston City Hall
- Fallingwater
- Levitt & Sons
- Frey House II
- John Deere & Co.
- Inland Steel
- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
- Schindler Chace House
- Empire State Plaza
- Thomas Crane Memorial Library
- Grand Central Terminal
- Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts
- Harvard University
- Gehry House and Studio
- Gamble House
- Westin Bonaventure Hotel
- Memorial Quadrangle
- Yale University
- Twin Oaks Community
- Kimbell Art Museum
- Cranbrook Academy of Art
- Thomas P. Murphy Design Studio Building
- Arquitectonica
- University of Miami
- Columbia University
- Harvard Graduate School of Design
- Rice University
- University of Colorado Denver
- Ove Arup
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios
- KPF
- Allied Works
- Lever Architecture
- Caples Jefferson
- Peter Pennoyer Architects
- Bernard Tschumi Architects
- Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects
- KligermanAD
- Hume Architecture
- RAMSA
- Office for Political Innovation
- Duvall Decker Architects
- Pelli Clarke & Partners
- Olson Kundig
- Grimshaw
- Selldorf Architects
- Eisenman Architects
- Thomas Phifer Architects
- Mark Foster Gage Architects
- Michael Maltzan Architecture
- Paul Preissner Architects
Locations
- Charlottesville
- Virginia
- United States
- New York City
- New York
- Houston
- Texas
- La Jolla
- California
- Mill Run
- Pennsylvania
- New Hampshire
- Orlando
- Florida
- Boston
- Massachusetts
- Moline
- Illinois
- Chicago
- West Hollywood
- Albany
- Quincy
- Cambridge
- Santa Monica
- Pasadena
- Los Angeles
- New Haven
- Connecticut
- Louisa
- Fort Worth
- Bloomfield Hills
- Michigan
- Miami
- Palm Springs
- New Jersey
- Blue Ridge Mountains
- Fifth Avenue
- Madison Avenue
- East 75th Street
- Pacific Ocean
- Yosemite
- Loop
- City of Big Shoulders