The Skyscraper Museum asked one hundred architects, brokers, builders, critics, developers, engineers, historians, lawyers, officials, owners, planners and scholars what their ten favorite NYC skyscrapers were from a list of buildings (which did not include the World Trade Center). The NY Times looks at the results, which are a great shorthand of the must-sees in the city. The top ten are Chrysler Building (with the most votes), Seagram, Flatiron, Woolworth, Empire State, Lever House, RCA, McGraw-Hill, U.N. Secretariat, and CBS. Reporter David Dunlap notes the Chrysler Building's "ebullient eccentricity" as being the best at "expressing New York's cloud-piercing ambitions" and calls the runner-up, the Seagram Building, the Chrysler's "anthithesis" as the Seagram is "cool, tranquil, rectangular and restrained."
The Skyscraper Museum lets you vote on your favorite and you can see the full list of 25 candidates here. They also have the results of their survey; hilariously, as the Times noted, Donald Trump wrote in his buildings. Gothamist would vote for the Chrysler, U.N., Williamsburgh Savings Bank, the Barclay-Vesey Building, Woolworth, Lever House, Seagram, and Empire State Buildings; our modern favorites are the Citicorp and AT&T/Sony Buildings. Who would you vote for? And Check out this paper toy of the Chrysler Building.
Image of the Chrsyler Building as imagined by Matthew Barney in Cremaster 3
