10 American Cities With the Coolest Architecture

You do n’t have to be an architect or a history buff to apprise the stunner of America ’s cities . You just have to be capable of look up and saying , " Yep , that ’s a moderately bloody cool building . "

And since we already showed you thecoolest , most beautiful building in every state(and oncollege campuses ) and , well , walk you throughthe country ’s most arresting historic neighborhoods , this time we desire you to nod approvingly at the architectural art of America ’s most aim - friendlycities . From Antebellum planetary house to adobe palace to glass skyscrapers , this is the stuff Instagram dreams are made of .

Detroit, MI

Detroit is in the thick of a Renascence , and it ’s one that pays homage to the metropolis ’s account ( and has earned it the title of aUNESCO City of Design ) . Many of Detroit ’s long - vacant , century - onetime skyscraper have been brought back to life in recent years thanks to a vexed snow flurry of investment and redevelopment efforts both Downtown and in the surrounding neck of the woods .

Idyllic historic districts like Boston - Edison are full of English manor house , Tudor Revival , and Italian Renaissance Revival mansions , while Lafayette Park is a residential community envisioned by Mies van der Rohe , a mid - century modern chef-d’oeuvre of urban planning full of chicken feed - walled townhomes and eminent - lift . The metropolis ’s financial , cultural , industrial , and intellectual centers are load with late-19th- and early-20th - century buildings designed by a unquestionable who ’s who of large architects – Daniel Burnham , Minoru Yamasaki , and Frank Lloyd Wright among them . In addition , Albert Kahn was the foremost industrial architect of his mean solar day , and his thumbprint is still seeable all over the metropolis : from the beautiful Belle Isle Conservatory to the hulking remnants of the Packard Plant , one of Detroit ’s most infamous ruination ( second only to Corktown ’s Beaux - Arts definitive - stylus Michigan Central Station in the thoroughness of its " ruin porn " documentation ) .

Santa Fe, NM

There are n’t many city in the US , even in the American Southwest , where you could find true Southwestern - style adobe computer architecture . Sante Fe , however , is full of it – bug out with the Palace of the Governors , which was work up in 1610 and remains the oldest continuously used public building in the country . The San Miguel Mission was also built in the 1600s and is believed to be the oldest church building in the United States , while the Santuario de Guadalupe ( build in 1777 ) is considered the country ’s oldest church … dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe ! All joking aside , Santa Fe reallyislike a museum , a centuries - old town that ’s been meticulously preserve under strikingly blue mountain sky .

San Francisco, CA

There ’s really no distinct architectural expressive style alone to San Francisco ; rather , it ’s how established styles were used in the topographically challenging metropolis that puddle it interesting . Among the significant sights are the Victorian words home in the Haight - Ashbury , the seven pastel - colored Victorian " Painted Ladies " of Alamo Square ( recognizable from the gap cite ofFull House ) , the honest-to-god and largest Chinatown in America ( plus three younger and smaller ones ) , and the Beaux - Arts Palace of Fine Arts , a rotunda and pergola situated next to an artificial lagoon constructed for the 1915 World ’s Fair . But really , it ’s all about Alcatraz Island and the Golden Gate Bridge . You knew it had to be this way .

Washington, DC

Obviously , the country ’s capital is home to the most meaning architectural landmarks and monuments in the United States . Not certain we need to name them all , but let ’s just say … from Neoclassical wonder like the White House , the United States Capitol Building , the Herbert C. Hoover Building , the Treasury Building , and the National Gallery of Art , to breathtaking memorials like the Washington Monument , the World War II Memorial , the Pentagon Memorial , the Vietnam Veterans Memorial , the Thomas Jefferson Memorial , the Lincoln Memorial , and the Martin Luther King , Jr. Memorial , DC is at once a vibrant urban kernel ( with thenightmarish dealings to match ) and a sprawling quasi - mausoleum . It can take an sinful amount of solitaire to be a proper holidaymaker in DC , but the National Mall really deserves a required place on the bucket list of all Americans .

New Orleans, LA

While the Creole architecture ( a hodgepodge of Gallic and Spanish Colonial and Greek Revival ) and typical wrought - iron balcony of the Gallic Quarter have descend to typify the metropolis , New Orleans is the only spot on this listing that can claim Egyptian and Moorish Revival as part of its architectural DNA ( the US Custom House and the Immaculate Conception Church ) . Not only that , but in increase to the Creole cottages , shotgun sign , and the double - art gallery household that define the Garden District and Uptown , the Big Easy also boasts the largest aggregation of surviving Antebellum homes in the area , many of which are on showing along St. Charles Ave . And have ’s not blank out the " cities of the dead , " the elaborate European - manner historic cemeteries replete with gemstone grave that are almost as noted as Mardi Gras .

Boston, MA

In a metropolis that was primal to some of the most pregnant events of the American Revolution – from the Boston Tea Party to the Battle of Bunker Hill – it make common sense that history would be conspicuously muse in the city ’s computer architecture . From Back Bay ’s row houses and the cobble street of Beacon Hill to the Beaux - Arts Boston Public Library and the Classical Georgian Old State House ( one of the oldest public buildings in the United States , btw ) , Boston ’s buildings exemplify America ’s earliest colonial chronicle .

But it ’s a innovative city , too , with structure like Frank Gehry ’s Stata Center at MIT , the equally fuck and hate Institute of Contemporary Art in the Seaport , and the cable length - stayed steel Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge over the Charles River , which echoes the Bunker Hill Monument . Although , admittedly , Boston should credibly fall behind peak forits metropolis Granville Stanley Hall . Awful .

Charleston, SC

Charleston is a city thattakes its historic conservation very seriously– the expansive collection of historic homes includes architectural styles of the Classic Georgian , Federal , Adamesque , Greek Revival , Italianate , and Victorian eras . Yeah , the works ! Not only has Charleston been nickname the " Holy City " for all of its steepled churches , but it also wield a long ton of well - preserved Civil War sites and John Rock Rainbow Row , an aptly named line of pastel - colour , eighteenth - century Georgian townhouses . fundamentally , if you ’re an American story or preservationist nerd , Charleston is your jam .

New York, NY

So , bottom line : this is New York . Pretty much every in of this metropolis is covered in concrete except for Central Park , with skyscraper shooting out of the primer coat like blades of grass in … well , Central Park , again . There are endless – endless – gorgeous buildings and bridge and public spaces , too many to even test to recite here . A speedy smasher list , though , if you must : the Art Deco Empire State Building and Chrysler Building , the Gothic Revival St. Patrick ’s Cathedral and Trinity Church , the Art Moderne Hearst Tower , the Beaux - Arts Grand Central Terminal , the Neoclassical Metropolitan Museum of Art , the Woolworth Building , the Waldorf Astoria Hotel , the Museum of Modern Art , theFrank Lloyd Wright - designed Guggenheim Museum … there are C of thousands of buildings in New York , each trying to upstage the one next to it , the skyline a sword - and - stone echocardiogram . And lease ’s not leave one of New York ’s greatest architectural marvel : One World Trade Center , America ’s massive , gleam middle finger .

Philadelphia, PA

Philly is another one of those colonial towns with architecture that spans the centuries : from 17th - one C row houses ( the first in America ) , to 18th - one C Federal - style brick buildings , to nineteenth - 100 Greek Revival , to the brand - and - concrete skyscraper of the former 20th C , and in the end to the field glass - and - granite towers of today – you may see . It . All .

Here , glint modern monument like One Liberty Place , Two Liberty Place , and the Comcast Center collide with baronial historic institutions like the Metropolitan Opera House , the University of Pennsylvania library , and the Reading Terminal Market – one of the old ( and largest ) public markets in the country . And no stumble to the City of Brotherly Love is stark without a visit to LOVE Park ( officially JFK Plaza ) ; located in Center City across from the magnificent Philadelphia City Hall , its focal full stop is a geyser - alike jet and reproduction of the iconicLOVEsculpture by Robert Indiana .

Chicago, IL

As a native Detroiter , it ’s hard not to begrudge the reality of living in the Windy City ’s shadow . There ’s only one problem with scorning Chicago ’s huge artistic acquirement : the urban center is , quite merely , fucking gorgeous . Chicago was able to capitalise on its waterfront localisation better than just about anywhere , from Lakeshore Dr running along Lake Michigan with miles of urban beach and bike path on one side and the towering , glittering skyscraper on the other , to the Chicago River that runs right through the metropolis ’s center field ( and on which you’re able to catch one of the metropolis ’s popular architectural gravy boat turn – how appropriate ) .

Chicago is full of 19th/20th - century skyscrapers from the " Chicago School " of architects – yes , their architectural talent was so telling that it has an entire aesthetical bm call after it – include the Chicago Building , Willis Tower , and the John Hancock Center . There is also the very recognisable Crain Communications Building ( aka , the " Vagina Building " ) ; the spectacular Neo - Gothic Tribune Tower ; and Marina City , two circular towers that look like the cars park on the down in the mouth levels are run to fall out the sides at any metre .

And we have n’t even talked about all the tucked - away park , of which the metropolis has tons . Or the 24.5 - acre Millennium Park , which in the decade since it opened , has become Chicago ’s premier outdoor venue and boasts a bandshell plan by Frank Gehry . Let ’s just say that for discriminating aesthete , Chicago is the most satisfying city in America .

south carolina charleston cities with cool architecture

Sean Pavone / Shutterstock.com

signalise up herefor our daily Thrillist email , and get your fix of the good in intellectual nourishment / swallow / playfulness .

Nicole Rupersburglives in Las Vegas , where the monovular tract living accommodations is made from cardboard and spitting and everything else is casinos . Even thousands of miles away from Detroit , she still has Chicago envy . Check out her IG@eatsdrinksandleaves , where she posts lots of pictures of mountains .