41 replies to this topic

[Rwarky]

Which city in the Midwest has the prettiest, most elaborate skyline outside of Chicago?

[Temeteron]

Definately Minneapolis!

[Gary_Kreie]

This is certainly the most distinctive.









Outside of New York and Chicago, there are only 2 skylines that uniquely identify the city -- St. Louis and Seattle. All the rest are just a bunch of buildings, and most poeple couldn't guess if they were looking at Minneapolis, or Cincinati, or Indianapolis, or Tulsa or whatever.

[Temeteron]

Gary_Kreie, on Mar 21 2006, 10:57 PM, said:

This is certainly the most distinctive.









Outside of New York and Chicago, there are only 2 skylines that uniquely identify the city -- St. Louis and Seattle. All the rest are just a bunch of buildings, and most poeple couldn't guess if they were looking at Minneapolis, or Cincinati, or Indianapolis, or Tulsa or whatever.

Actually, San Francisco has the Trans America Pyramid, very distinctive.......Charlotte has the Hearst Tower which curves outward as it goes up.......Dallas has that building that is round at the top.......Let's not forget Las Vegas, definately able to distinguish that skyline.......its all a matter of having knowledge about the different cities' skylines....

[Gary_Kreie]

I agree that most people recognize San Francisco with its pyramid building, especially if the golden gate bridge is in the picture. I don't think the Dallas Reunion Tower is as well known -- it kind of looks like a lot of control towers, or this amusment park tower in Orlando:



The Las Vegas skyline might be recognizable if it would hold still for a few minutes. It keeps changing.

I'm not sure I could pick Charlotte's skyline out of a skyline line-up. I'm sure it looks distinctive to the people who live there.

[hudkina]

The Ren Cen is also a well-known skyline feature.

I think Cleveland has one of the prettier skylines in the Midwest. It may not be that large, but its tallests are beautiful.

[moonshield]

St. Louis. Everyone knows the Arch.

[KCMOlover]

I would say Kansas City, MO has one of the more interesting, and distinguishable skylines. With it's two talles buildings easily reconzinable glass towers, One Kansas City Place, and the Town Pavillion, as well as the H. Roe Bartle Hall Sky Pylons. Very distinctive. I'm not that impressed with St Louis's skyline. Without the Arch it might as well me Des Moines. The one distinctive tower is their Federal Courthouse. The rest of the "Towers" are plain Jane.

[Gary_Kreie]

KCMOlover, on Mar 22 2006, 11:32 PM, said:

I would say Kansas City, MO has one of the more interesting, and distinguishable skylines. With it's two talles buildings easily reconzinable glass towers, One Kansas City Place, and the Town Pavillion, as well as the H. Roe Bartle Hall Sky Pylons. Very distinctive. I'm not that impressed with St Louis's skyline. Without the Arch it might as well me Des Moines. The one distinctive tower is their Federal Courthouse. The rest of the "Towers" are plain Jane.

KC has a nice skyline, but I'm not sure non-Missourians could distinguish it from a lot of other cities unless The Scout or the old Train Station is in the foreground to help out. St. Louis doesn't have buidings as tall as some cities because the height limit -- nothing taller than the Arch.

[southernyank]

I love Minne's skyline but you gotta love the Arch.

[AvianKeahi]

I also love St. Louis. The Arch is priceless and Saarinen captured the spirit of the American frontier for all time.

But apart from the magnificent and incomparable Arch, St. Louis' skyline is rather mundane and frankly forgettable.. (Please don't take this as an offense! STL is still a great city! And I may eat my words once the Bottle District is up and running!)

The question though, is, "what is pretty?"

For architectural significance, attractiveness, sheer height and massing in the Midwest...it is Minneapolis. However, for the purposes of this subjective thread ("prettiest?"), Minneapolis might not be your first choice. And that's OK.

[Gary_Kreie]

Minneapolis has a beautiful skyline. I had never been to Minneapolis until about 10 months ago, and now my job has me going up there every 2 months from my home in St. Louis. I usually stay downtown or near the airport and the Mall of America. This has to be the tallest skyline in the Midwest outside of Chicago, and the architecture is striking. I'm hoping Minneapolis builds a new outdoor baseball stadium near downtown somewhere with a view of that skyline in the outfield. Is anything in the works?

[MJLO]

I can always recognize the IDS tower in Minne, I'd have to go with Minne on this one. I'm going to get hung out to dry for saying this of course seeing as I'm a Detroit fan. Detroit's skyline is definately cool. But it's a little drab in spots. Especially considering that when you look at all that beautiful architecture downtown Detroit. See all the projects that never were. Notice how many sky scrapers in Detroit are vacant. And also considering how economically Important Detroit is, how big the city was/ is I feel its a shame that it's skyline isn't more impressive. Alot of the arguements we make in the midwest are pure speculation.
What city is the most important? What skyline is the prettiest? all that can only be measured in opinion really.

What cannot be argued with, what is fact, is that after Chicago, Detroit is by far the largest city in the midwest. And without question the largest metropolitan area. For a city it's size, it's really a shame the things that have happened and how unrepresented it is internationally.

But back on topic, go Minne, St Louis is nice, and KC is good and getting better everyday. But Minne is there, it's the Atlanta of the north, it's where we all strive our cities get to.

[Snowguy716]

Prettiest skyline besides Chicago? Skyline as a whole? Minneapolis. I love the glass look. The pure modern look to it and the clean feeling you get from looking at it along with the fact that it is shaped very nicely.

St. Louis doesn't have a very impressive skyline per se, but the Arch definitely brings it up several notches in my opinion very near Minneapolis. Now if only there were a few more glassy modern buildings behind the arch, that would make St. Louis top-class.

Being a fan of modern skylines, Detroit doesn't really impress me. For its historical value, of course, but the Rennaisance center, in my opinion, is an eyesore and it draws your attention away from the main downtown area.

[Gary_Kreie]

Clayton, MO -- St. Louis Skyline.

[hudkina]

MJLO, Detroit doesn't have that many vacant skyscrapers. The tallest is Broderick Tower (369 ft), but that is slated to be renovated into loft apartments. The other tall ones, Book-Cadillac (351 ft) and Fort-Shelby (22 stories) are both slated to be renovated into hotels/condos. The tallest building with no future plans is the David Whitney building (272 ft). The United Artists building (230 ft) is the only other major building downtown that sits vacant. There are several smaller buildings in the 10 to 15 story range that are vacant, but they hardly have an effect on the skyline. But of the 5 tallest vacant buildings, 3 of them will no longer be vacant in a few years.

[Lmichigan]

Well, I'm going to vote both Detroit (out of bias) and Cleveland (out of pure appreciation). "Pretty" is subjective. I'd say that Detroit's skyline is beauitful because it is filled with so much texture and unique shapes, and its setting is also very nice on a glassy river. Cleveland just seems like the quinessential American skyline. I'm not a fan of glassy skylines, either.

Detroit via Flickr




From forumer Allan M. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/allanm/)



New Center (Uptown) - 2 to 3 miles north of downtown


Midtown Detroit skyline


From forumer Wolverine (http://www.flickr.co...s/70205638@N00/)



From forumer Zissou (http://www.flickr.com/photos/southen/)

Edited by Lmichigan, 16 April 2006 - 09:43 PM.

[MJLO]

hey Lmich where are the Cleveland pics

[Rwarky]

Allow me to chime in... The topic should say, "Which Midwestern city has the most aesthetic and creative skyline beyond Chicago?"

Edited by Rwarky, 15 April 2006 - 10:29 PM.

[Minneapolitan]

Gary_Kreie, on Mar 23 2006, 11:23 PM, said:

I'm hoping Minneapolis builds a new outdoor baseball stadium near downtown somewhere with a view of that skyline in the outfield. Is anything in the works?

Here's the location of the proposed Twins stadium. The Target Center is in the lower left hand corner.


The new stadium will be in the foreground