American Famous Buildings

Categories:
American Famous Buildings, America's Wars,
President of America 1789 - 1849,
President of America 1849 - 1901,
President of America 1901 - 2001


The two towers in New York's World Trade Center stood
1,360-feet (415-meters) tall

The Empire State Building in New York City. The view from the building's 86th-floor observatory is one of New York City's top tourist attractions.

The Empire State Building's 73 elevators can move 600 to 1,400 feet (183 to 427 meters) per minute. At the maximum speed, you can travel from the lobby to the 80th floor in 45 seconds.

The Chrysler Building in New York City.

The distinctive chrome-nickel-steel crown of the 1,046-foot (319-meter) Chrysler Building is a classic example of art deco architecture.

The 738-foot (225-meter) Chase Tower in Dallas is a good example of the innovative design of the 1980s.

The Statue of Liberty was designed in the 1870's by a famous sculptor from France. A sculptor is a person who builds statues from materials such as marble, clay, or copper. Mr. Auguste Bartholdi, the French sculptor desired to build a statue, which would represent the idea of American liberty and independence. He desired to raise the funds for the project by receiving gifts from the French people. He wanted the statue to be a symbol of the friendship between France and America.

The White House, since 1800 the official residence of the president of the United States, is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. The winner of a 1792 competition for its design was the Irish-American architect James Hoban, whose dignified neoclassical plan was a virtual copy of a project in James Gibbs's Book of Architecture (1728). As early as 1807, Benjamin Latrobe, the principal architect of the Capitol, sought to improve the building by preparing designs for pavilions at either end (added that year in collaboration with Thomas Jefferson), for interior alterations, and for porticos on both fronts. After the building was burned (1814) by the British, it was reconstructed (1815-17) by Hoban, who also added (1826) the semicircular South Portico that Latrobe had proposed and completed (1829) Latrobe's rectangular North Portico.

The White House was extensively remodeled (1902) by the firm of McKim, Mead, and White, which also added the East Gallery and the Executive Office Wing. Between 1948 and 1952 the building, deemed structurally unsound, was gutted and its interior structure replaced with steel framing, within which the original rooms were reconstructed. Since 1961 each First Lady has contributed to a continuing effort to refurbish the interior. The resultant enhancement has made the White House a veritable museum of decorative arts of the first quarter of the 19th century.