Austrian Cultural Forum New York  

The Austrian Cultural Forum New York (ACFNY), an agency of the Republic of Austria, is located in an extraordinary architectural landmark building in Manhattan.

Building designed by Raimund Abraham .

Bonaventure Hotel 

Pure ’70s L.A by John Portman.

Case Study House No. 22  

Stahl house by Pierre Koenig. This 2009 article paints a picture of how it was to live in. Further photos can be found on Pierre’s still fairly intact website .

Conjunctive Points 

A group of 1990s buildings and follies at Hayden Tract, Culver City, by Eric Owen Moss for Samitaur Constructs. Most are extensions to existing factories. See also the Stealth Building nearby.

Contemporary Arts Center Cincinnati  

You can download design drawings by Hadid from this web page.

Contemporary Jewish Museum  

Eames House  

You must book in advance to visit. You can catch Big Blue Bus #9 straight there from Santa Monica, but you’ll need a map as it isn’t visible from the street. The house is in mint condition, and the interiors have been preserved from when the Eames lived there. If you’ve done a half decent sketch let them know a they are intending to publish a book of them (2006). The neighbour’s house is also by the Eames, you can peek over the fence.

High Line  

A park by Diller Scofidio and Renfro, rambling through Manhattanon an otherwise dis-used elevated railway.

J. Paul Getty Museum  

Very large and lots of cold stone. Angelos love to lie on the lawns in Summer. And bloody hard to get to and from on the infrequent bus… what do you expect from an oil magnate. It’s free.

Lever House 

Gordon Bunshaft for SOM, 1952.

In contrast to the Seagram building nearby, this tower feels scaled to suit the goings on around it, mostly thanks to a strip of hovering office bounding the courtyard. Green glass and ample foliage help the building feel like a bit of an oasis on Park Ave.

SOM project page

Monadnock Building  

Designed by Burnham and Root. This building differs from others by Burnham and Root in the 1880s by using a masonry structure instead of steel frame. It also does away with facade ornamentation – instead the coloured brick, flaring out at top and bottom, provided all the articulation required by a building in what was once the downmarket end of town.

New Museum  

Robie House  

Frank Lloyd Wright 1909.

Seagram Building 

Grand mountain of brown steel by Ludwig, setting off many copycats. As Joe Public can’t get very far into the building, and the plaza is not designed for hanging out in, people congregate at the edge by the reflecting pool to eat their hot dogs – on a very popular onyx seat. Maybe it’s called the Barcelona corner.

Sleeper House  

A Forbes profile.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum  

Frank Lloyd Wright, 1959.

Stealth building 

The developers, one who looked a bit like David Crosby, were old hippies (in the best sense) who felt they were doing great things for Hayden Tract when they transformed it with a number of Eric Owen Moss buildings in the 1990s. Samitaur continue to work closely with Eric Owen Moss Architects. See also some of the other buildings in Hayden Tract.

Storefront for Art and Architecture  

Gallery by Steven Holl.
“Founded in 1982, Storefront for Art and Architecture is a nonprofit organization committed to the advancement of innovative positions in architecture, art and design.”

Eva Franch Gilabert was appointed director in 2010.

The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels  

Not the smoothest of jobs for architect Rafael Moneo, a very difficult client I hear. Most of his design looks fairly intact, if you avoid the crypt.