Your Favorite US City Skyline

[Ted80]

Chicago

[dimebag1980]

Dare I say I don't like NYC's skyline? I just never have found it to be very appealing. It's enormous... but not exactly eye candy to me.

I really like my own city's skyline (Shreveport)

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But my absolute top 5 would have to be... in this order...

Chicago

Houston

Minneapolis <-- now that I've seen it, I love it

Philadelphia

New Orleans

[TBurban]

Nice photos of Shreveport, SBCmetroguy

My favorites are...

Cleveland

Pittsburgh

Minneapolis

Tampa

[Nitro]

I'd have to say that I really enjoy Cincinnati

[Simple Simon]

My favorites (in no specific order) are

New York - For the obvious reason, it's one of a kind. The history behind so many of the buildings in Manhattan is incredible. It's one of the few cities on earth that almost anyone could see a picture of the skyline and easily identify it.

Chicago - For the shear amount of it, & there is no view more impressive than all of Chicagoland at night from a downtown highrise. New York & Paris can't even compete with those lights

Atlanta - I love the Atlanta skyline for the exact reason the urban purists say they don't love it. Atlanta has 3 totally separate skylines (downtown, midtown, and Buckhead/uptown). When you look out from an area skyscraper and see all these tall buildings jutting up from the forest, it is a view that you will get nowhere else. The intermix of nature with the buildings gives this city a look that is incredible to me.

Seattle - I went to college there and the view of the downtown skyscrapers with Mt. Ranier in the distance is awe inspiring and incomparable.

Pittsburgh - I've only been there twice but I remember coming out from some tunnel and the downtown skyline being thrust at you. It's a beautiful sight, especially with the hills behind the city.

[bigbigyo2000]

I'd have to say that I really enjoy Cincinnati

[Plasticman]

Cincinatti has a skyline?

[TBurban]

Cincinatti has a skyline?

It does, a fairly impressive one actually

[bigbigyo2000]

Chicago and New York have the best by far.

What's all this talk about Minneapolis' skyline? I've come across people stating the city had a great one numerous times. But I've been there and I wasn't impressed at all. There was like 7 buildings.

Furthermore, I believe that people that live in cities with skylines such as (Minneapolis, St. Louis, etc) tend to give too much credit to their skyline because to them it looks so impressive because nothing is really there. A few tall buildings that come out of "nothingness" looks more impressive than even taller buildings that come out of a sea of highrises and office buildings. I know that some "big city" residence will understand and agree.

[Garris]

My favorites (in no specific order) are

New York - For the obvious reason, it's one of a kind.

Chicago - For the shear amount of it

Atlanta - I love the Atlanta skyline for the exact reason the urban purists say they don't love it.

Seattle - the view of the downtown skyscrapers with Mt. Ranier in the distance is awe inspiring

Pittsburgh - the downtown skyline being thrust at you. It's a beautiful sight, especially with the hills behind

I pretty much agree with you.

New York impresses by being a "city without end..." Just row after row of skyscapers... It's actually a tough skyline to photograph. It's hard to convey its extent and density in a photo, and even more amazing, the surrounding cities (Jersey City, Brooklyn, etc) are starting to add some height as well. Amazing...

Chicago suffers no such photo problem. It's probably America's most photogenic city...

Atlanta doesn't do it for me... It's fine, but little more...

Seattle may be the most angle dependent skyline I've ever seen. From some angles (the waterfront in particular, it's impressive but not that moving... Slightly generic. But from farther up or down the shoreline, it's incredible. Its geography only heightens the effect...

Pittsburgh is impressive for the reasons you point out...

What's all this talk about Minneapolis' skyline?

I believe that people that live in cities with skylines such as (Minneapolis, St. Louis, etc) tend to give too much credit to their skyline because to them it looks so impressive because nothing is really there. A few tall buildings that come out of "nothingness" looks more impressive than even taller buildings that come out of a sea of highrises and office buildings. I know that some "big city" residence will understand and agree.

As a former resident of a "big city" (Manhattan) and nearby Minneapolis, I disagree. Certainly, if some cities like Hong Kong, Pittsburgh, Vancouver, etc are made the more dramatic by their surrounding geography, certainly the rising up of some impressively tall skyscrapers out of nothingness is similarly impressive. Minneapolis' skyline has great symmetry, some landmark buildings, fantastic night lighting, and lots of diversity. Add the Humphry Dome, the river, and other features, and I think it's enormous impressive. In my top 10 nationwide...

In my opinion, the impressiveness of a skyline isn't just a product of sheer building number. I think my current city of Providence has a wonderfully dramatic skyline in its setting, within its space, and and with its nighttime lighting, despite the fact that the skyline is (currently) only formed by about half a dozen skyscrapers...

- Garris

[Benmpls]

chicago

nyc

philadelphia

minneapolis

seattle

pittsburg

[Temeteron]

New York & Chicago of course......Charlotte is beautiful, as well as Atlanta, Boston from a certain viewpoint, Miami definately has a gorgeous skyline, Minneapolis looks gorgeous from pics.....never seen in person though.....

[tamias6]

Chartotte, has a very nice sky line. I hope my home city of Grand Rapids, MI will have a similar skyline in 15 to 20 years. We have a couple of 30 story buildings and two more going in. But these places are spread out which does not giving any focal point like Charlotte or Cleveland. But we are starting to see some infill though.

Still my favorite skyline is Chicago's. The buildings seem to have a lot of muscle.

[MidTenn1]

Here's how I would score it;

Number and size of buildings is 30%.

Distribution and grouping of buildings (Overall appearance) 20%

Age, variety and style of individual buildings is 20%

Natural setting. (Rivers, lakes, ocean or mountains) is 20%

Visibility of skyline. (Can you see it) is 10%.

Bonus Points - I'm from there

Now, throwing all these parameters into my sleep deprived and caffeine overloaded brain and spinning around in the chair twice, I came up with this list: (*cities I have not personally visited)

New York (Strong in all cats)

Chicago (Strong Second)

San Francisco (Stunning views)

Pittsburgh (weak in number and size, but off the chart in the other cats)

Seattle* (see: Pittsburgh)

Houston* (Weak on natural setting)

Los Angeles* (Needs more talls downtown)

Miami (Very spread out, no older bldgs, but wow!)

Philadelphia (rivers are a ways from the city center)

Dallas/Atlanta/Boston (virtual tie)

Honorable mention (In alphabetical order) Charlotte*, Cincinnati, Cleveland*, Denver, Detroit*, Kansas City, Minneapolis*, Nashville, New Orleans, Saint Louis, San Diego*

[hood]

Here's how I would score it;

Number and size of buildings is 30%.

Distribution and grouping of buildings (Overall appearance) 20%

Age, variety and style of individual buildings is 20%

Natural setting. (Rivers, lakes, ocean or mountains) is 20%

Visibility of skyline. (Can you see it) is 10%.

Bonus Points - I'm from there

I like your ranking system, it makes a lot of sense and would even work for smaller downtowns.

[PghUSA]

Pittsburgh I would rank like this:

Number and Size (# would be 20 out of 30, Size maybe 22 out of 30) so 21 out of 30

Distrubution and grouping appearance IMHO 20 out of 20

Age, variety and style I would initally give 15 out of 20 but considering Gulf, PPG, Cathedral etc. I would make it 18 out of 20

Natural setting IMHO 20 out of 20

Visibility of Skyline (you can't see it from the airport?! but you do get the only "entrance" affect in America!) 8 out of 10

Interested in your rankings of Pittsburgh and other cities.

[MidTenn1]

Pittsburgh I would rank like this:

Number and Size (# would be 20 out of 30, Size maybe 22 out of 30) so 21 out of 30

Distrubution and grouping appearance IMHO 20 out of 20

Age, variety and style I would initally give 15 out of 20 but considering Gulf, PPG, Cathedral etc. I would make it 18 out of 20

Natural setting IMHO 20 out of 20

Visibility of Skyline (you can't see it from the airport?! but you do get the only "entrance" affect in America!) 8 out of 10

Interested in your rankings of Pittsburgh and other cities.

I've always admired the Pittsburgh skyline and the first time I went there three years ago, my first view was emerging from the Mt Washington Tunnel. Holy cow!!

By scoring for visibility, what I mean is, are there places where you can get impressive views? What good is a skyline if you can't see it? There are some large Cities, where getting the 'money shot' of the skyline is difficult because of terrain, etc. There are no accessible hills or shores where an unobstructed view of the complete skyline is available. You have to go to a rooftop somewhere or up in another building or be content with views of just portions of the skyline.

And the more vistas, the better. Mt. Washington has got to be the best skyline view in the country. And there are other vistas almost as impressive.

[daniel18]

Chicago.

[PghUSA]

I've always admired the Pittsburgh skyline and the first time I went there three years ago, my first view was emerging from the Mt Washington Tunnel. Holy cow!!

And the more vistas, the better. Mt. Washington has got to be the best skyline view in the country. And there are other vistas almost as impressive.

Good point Ph,

Once I thought that having the International Airport on top of Mt. Washington (or the "slopes" to the SE) would've been fantastic for any newcomer to the city.

Especially in USAirways heydays, a lot of out of towners xferred at the airport without getting any great view of the skyline, and left with the impression that the airport was nice but "good thing I didn't have to go into town".

[Fallingwater]

My favorite US skyline is Chicago - Birthplace of the modern skyscraper (Home Insurance Building, William LeBaron Jenney).

[richyb83]

Chicago and New York City are so impressive, they are just a cut above the rest. Losing the WTC hurt NYC vs. Chicago. Then it's Houston, L.A. and Philly. Seattle is very nice as well !

[dimebag1980]

Chicago and New York City are so impressive, they are just a cut above the rest. Losing the WTC hurt NYC vs. Chicago. Then it's Houston, L.A. and Philly. Seattle is very nice as well !

You just wait, my friend.

This year I'll have my digital camera on my trip to Chicago. And now I have the ability to store over 500 photos at my camera's highest setting. I'm going to have much more fun taking pictures in Chicago than I did the last few times I went, since back then I only had a 35 mm. I can't wait to take my photos from the top of the Sears Tower and upload them straight onto my computer this time.

September just can't get here fast enough. Ironically, I'll be visiting Chicago the week of 9-11 this year, and sometime over that week is when I plan on visiting the Sears Tower again. Sadly enough, last time I was up there I actually ran along the concrete shorelines of Lake Michigan. This time, you'd have to roll my fat butt along that shoreline!

[Trae_1]

Houston:

[GoodNews]

very massive

[ZachariahDaMan]

Wow, I had no idea downtown Houston was so spread out.