Amalia Otet 
The playground of some of the world’s most notable architects, New York City flaunts an impressive collection of buildings: some innovative, others grand or imposing, modern structures or historic landmarks, high-rise or low-rise, glassy, zany, or green… and the list could go on.
But which among them cater best to New Yorkers and their thirst for singularity? To shed some light on the matter, we turned to Reddit and asked New Yorkers to share some of their favorite buildings. We got the good, the bad, and the controversial.
While people can’t decide whether One57 is stunning or actually “one of the most awful buildings in the city” as one Redditor puts it, both the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building stand out as perennial favorites.
The Good.
The Chatsworth luxury apartment building at 342-344 West 72 Street, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, is one of those rare pearls that never lose their charm. Built early in the twentieth century as “housekeeping apartments,” The Chatsworth features exuberant French-inspired classical and Beaux-Arts detailing which remind one of the high-living nobility of an era long gone.
The Bad.
On the other end of the admiration index stand 33 Thomas Street, the brutalist AT&T bunker, and 375 Pearl, “the unofficial ugliest building in NYC”, according to one of the Redditors.
The Controversial.
The Goldman Sachs Tower at 200 West Street seems to stir mixed feelings. “The outside is cool enough on its own, but if you’ve ever been inside that thing…holy […] it’s like a temple of money,” says one of the building’s enthusiastic supporters. In response, another Redditor affirms: “It lacks grace, proportion, and shockingly, for something of its size, grandeur. It is a truly awful building.”
The bottom line, however, is that NYC buildings trigger passions and spark emotions. And this is something that any city can be proud of.
Scroll down for the unofficial top 10 most beloved NYC buildings, both commercial and residential properties . Is yours among them?
1. Chrysler Building, 395-413 Lexington Avenue
2. Seagram Building, 375 Park Avenue
3. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building, 163 West 125th Street
4. Headquarters of the United Nations, 752 1 Avenue
5. US Post Office, 93-99 Park Ave S
6. The Dakota, 121 Central Park W
7. New York by Gehry, 8 Spruce Street
8. Westbeth Artists Housing, 55 Bethune Street
9. The Chatsworth, 342-344 West 72 Street
10. Cathedral Church of Saint John: The Great Divine in the City and Diocese of New York, 1021-1061 Amsterdam Avenue
Honorable mentions
Some New Yorkers really know and love their city. “I’ve always been partial to the Woolworth Building {1913}. Liberty Tower is really nice. I currently work in the Equitable Building {1915} a.k.a. 120 Broadway (it was featured in Wolf of Wall Street). The latter is really great because its design created NYC’s zoning laws. Without it, the Empire State Building or the Chrysler Building would probably look nothing like they do. Nor would another one of my favorites, the GE Building. It basically inspired the Art Deco movement in NYC. 70 Pine isn’t bad either. For modern buildings, I really like the Bank of America Building (1 Bryant Park) and the new One57 isn’t too shabby.”
“For future projects, the MoMA Tower is getting a lot of attention and is supposedly underway, as is 30 Park Place. Last and not least, the Hudson Yards project has some cool stuff going on.”
And finally, an ode from a New Yorker to Grand Central Terminal. Over a century-old, the celebrated terminal is still the place where all paths cross.
Which iconic NYC buildings are you hopelessly in love with? Care to share in the comments section below?
