# Iconic structures
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-structures/517346
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [November 12, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-structures/517346 "2009-11-12T18:55:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-structures/517346/1 "2009-11-12T18:55:36Z")
It occured to me today that I generally represent cities in my head as buildings. Then it occurred to me that I have no idea what structure represents my adopted hometown of Orlando to most non-locals; I would guess it’s Sleeping Beauty’s Castle or Spaceship Earth (the giant golf ball in the EPCOT Center), but I really have no clue.
Some cities are easy:
Sydney- the Opera House
Paris- the Eiffel Tower
Berlin- the Brandenburg Gate
Moscow- the Kremlin
Bombay/Mumbai- the Gateway to India
Edinburgh- Edinburgh Castle
New York- the Empire State Building\*
Washington, D.C.- the White House
Seattle- the Space Needle
St. Louis- the Arch
Some cities are surprisingly hard. I lived in London for three years, and I can’t figure out what building most people would associate with it. Buckingham Palace, perhaps, but I doubt most people could begin to describe what it looks like. Downing Street is just a street with lots of policemen on it; everyone knows what the door to Number 10 looks like, but not the actual buildings. Windsor Castle, or the London Eye, or the Tower of London, perhaps - and Westminster Abbey is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Probably it’s Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.
For Tokyo, I couldn’t think of any structures at all. Same for Rio, Buenos Aires, Stockholm, Madrid, or pretty much any other major city.
So, Dopers, help me out. What’s your city’s iconic structure? What other structures symbolize a city?
\*I picked the ESB but the Statue of Liberty is a World Heritage Site and that might come to other people’s minds first.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-structures/517346/2 "2009-11-12T19:06:37Z")
How about Tokyo Tower?
> **[Tokyo Tower](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Tower)**
>
> The Tokyo Tower\[a\] is a communications and observation tower in the Shiba-koen district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, built in 1958. At 332.9 meters (1,092 ft), it is the second-tallest structure in Japan. The structure is an Eiffel Tower-inspired lattice tower that is painted white and international orange to comply with air safety regulations.
> The tower's main sources of income are tourism and antenna leasing. Over 150 million people have visited the tower. FootTown, a four-story building direc...
**Salt Lake City** : The Mormon Tabernacle. Or the Temple.
> **[Salt Lake Tabernacle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Lake_Tabernacle)**
>
> The Salt Lake Tabernacle, also known as the Mormon Tabernacle, is located on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, in the U.S. state of Utah. The Tabernacle was built from 1863 to 1875 to house meetings for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It was the location of the church's semi-annual general conference until the meeting was moved to the new and larger LDS Conference Center in 2000. Now a historic building on Temple Square, the Salt Lake Tabernacle is still used for over...
> **[Salt Lake Temple](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Lake_Temple)**
>
> The Salt Lake Temple is a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. At 253,015 square feet (23,505.9 m2), it is the largest Latter-day Saint temple by floor area. Dedicated in 1893, it is the sixth temple completed by the church, requiring 40 years to complete, and the fourth temple built since the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1846. The temple was closed in December 2019 for a general remodelling and seismic re...
**Boston** – Not sure there is one. The New State House?\*
**Rochester, N.Y.** – The Times Square Building, if only because its Art Deco “Heat Fin” top is one of the most distinctive building-toppers I’ve seen.
> **[Times Square Building (Rochester)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_Square_Building_(Rochester))**
>
> The Times Square Building is an Art Deco skyscraper designed by Ralph Thomas Walker of the firm Voorhees, Gmelin, and Walker located in Rochester, New York, United States. At 260 feet (79 m), it is the eighth-tallest building in Rochester, with 14 floors.
> The former Genesee Valley Trust Building is a streamlined twelve-story building supporting four aluminum wings 42 feet (13 m) high, known as the "Wings of Progress", each weighing 12,000 pounds (5,400 kg). These structures are among the most Th...
- It’s typical of Boston that a building made in 1798 is still called “new”. the Old State House dates to 1713.
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### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2009, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-structures/517346/3 "2009-11-12T19:22:23Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> I have no idea what structure represents my adopted hometown of Orlando to most non-locals; I would guess it’s Sleeping Beauty’s Castle
You really TRULY have no idea. Sleeping Beauty Castle is in Anaheim. _Cinderella_ Castle is in Orlando (Lake Buena Vista, actually, but you get my point).
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-structures/517346/4 "2009-11-12T19:41:35Z")
**Toronto** – The CN Tower
**San Francisco** – Golden Gate Bridge
Maybe **Boston** should use The Old North Church – I often see its steeple (along with the statue of Paul Revere) used as a symbol for Boston by out-of-town groups. [Old North Church - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_North_Church)
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2009, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-structures/517346/5 "2009-11-12T19:44:10Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#):
>
> You really TRULY have no idea. Sleeping Beauty Castle is in Anaheim. _Cinderella_ Castle is in Orlando (Lake Buena Vista, actually, but you get my point).
See? Anyway, it’s a big freakin’ mass of plaster, not a _real_ castle.
The Golden Gate Bridge is a perfect example, **Cal**.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-structures/517346/6 "2009-11-12T19:45:08Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> Probably it’s Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.
Big Ben is what comes to mind for me, and I suspect many other people as well.
> [@](#):
>
> Same for Rio
I think the [Christ the Redeemer statue](http://www.fredonia.edu/department/internationalstudies/Rio_de_Janeiro_Helicoptero_47_Feb_2006.jpg) is best known. Although not a structure, Sugarloaf Mountain in the background is also pretty iconic.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-structures/517346/7 "2009-11-12T19:47:31Z")
Or instead of the Golden Gate Bridge, you might have the Transamerica Pyramid. Ideally these buildings are recognizable even in silhouette.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-structures/517346/8 "2009-11-12T19:53:38Z")
For Panama City, it’s going to be either the [Statue of Balboa](http://panamacanalcountry.com/images/Balboa%20Statue%202.JPG) or the ruined [Cathedral Tower](http://www.virtourist.com/america//panama/panama-city/imatges/09.jpg) at Panama Viejo, the old city burned during the attack by the pirate Morgan in 1671.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-structures/517346/9 "2009-11-12T20:15:48Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> Or instead of the Golden Gate Bridge, you might have the Transamerica Pyramid. Ideally these buildings are recognizable even in silhouette.
Yes, but one is one of the fifty or so most famous man-made structures in the world, and the other is just a cool-looking building. If you asked the average joe in, say, Belgium where the Transamerica Pyramid was they’d probably not get any closer than, “America?”
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### Author:  [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-structures/517346/10 "2009-11-12T20:20:01Z")
Thirding Big Ben for London; seconding Christ the Redeemer (and the Sugarloaf) for Rio.
For Israel:
Jerusalem – the Western (“wailing”) wall and/or Al Aqsa mosque atop of it.
Haifa – the Baha’i Temple and gardens\*.
Tel Aviv – none really, at least not internationally. Maybe in a few years the [“Triple” (Azrieli) Towers](http://images.google.com/images?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hl=en&source=hp&q=azrieli+towers&gbv=2&aq=0&oq=azriel&aqi=g2) will gain that status…
- Of course, to most Israelis haifa is symbolized by the huge and horribly polluting twin smokestacks of the [Refinery](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.environment.gov.il/Enviroment/Static/Binaries/Articals/104-1_1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.environment.gov.il/bin/en.jsp%3FenPage%3De_big_pic%26bigPicName%3D104-1_1.jpg%26enDisplay%3Dview%26enDispWhat%3Dobject%26enDispWho%3DArticals%255El2027%26enZone%3DIndustrial_Pollution%26enVersion%3D0%26pictitle%3DHaifa%2520Oil%2520Refineries,%2520Photographer:%2520Motti%2520Sela&usg=__cc4YUmCLel2urVo-mBFfLxbVA7k=&h=496&w=800&sz=87&hl=en&start=16&tbnid=dmIg9Mksonc8zM:&tbnh=89&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhaifa%2Brefineries%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official)… 😛
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### Author:  [@Godinama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Godinama)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2009, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-structures/517346/11 "2009-11-12T21:42:06Z")
Another vote for Big Ben.
For whatever reason whenever I think of Jerusalem I picture the Dome of the Rock.
Washington DC - The White House or the Capitol building.
Beijing - The Forbidden City
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-structures/517346/12 "2009-11-12T21:45:31Z")
If I saw a silhouette of Big Ben I wouldn’t think of London – Tower Bridge OTOH more readily would cause me to think of London (and because I first heard the term in the context of a game where you place your hands very close to the shape of Tower Bridge, I thought it was _the_ London Bridge until a couple years ago.)
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### Author:  [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2009, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-structures/517346/13 "2009-11-12T21:57:20Z")
Pisa – the leaning tower.
Firenze (Florence) – David.
Moscow – the Red Square and the Kremlin
Edinburgh – The Rock(and the castle)
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### Author:  [@BMada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMada)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2009, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-structures/517346/14 "2009-11-12T22:24:36Z")
toronto is more like CN tower and Skydome(now Rogers Centre) as the penis and nutsack combo.
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### Author:  [@kenner116](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenner116)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2009, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-structures/517346/15 "2009-11-12T22:55:20Z")
Madrid - [Plaza de Cibeles](http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenner116/3078618025/in/set-72157610606443487/)
Frankfurt - [Commerzbank Tower](http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y281/gherkin007/Commerzbank-Foto.jpg)
Amsterdam - [Royal Palace](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Koninklijk_Paleis_Amsterdam.jpg)
Moscow - [St. Basil’s Cathedral](http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenner116/4025558078/in/set-72157622616313282/)
Munich - [Frauenkirche and Neues Rathaus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:M%C3%BCnchen_Panorama.JPG)
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### Author:  [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2009, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-structures/517346/16 "2009-11-12T22:59:22Z")
Not that it’s a large city, but here in Madison it’s either [Monona Terrace](http://pmo.umext.maine.edu/ct/2005%20C&T%20Website/ipcm.wisc.edu/workshop2005/images/Monona%20Terrace_Lake%20Front.jpg) (The last structure completed that was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright) or [the State Capitol](http://www.travelwisconsin.com/upload/images/article/gallery/128438596670101905.gifhttp://www.travelwisconsin.com/upload/images/article/gallery/128438596670101905.gif). For me, I live across the bay from downtown so it’s [a little](http://www.december.com/places/mad/images/madsky.jpg) of [both.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Madison_Wisconsin_skyline_night_0855.jpg)
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### Author:  [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2009, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-structures/517346/17 "2009-11-13T00:15:18Z")
Dubai - Burj Al Arab
Pyongyang - Ryugyong Hotel
Tehran - Azadi Tower
Kuwait City - Kuwait Towers
Riyadh - Kingdom Tower
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### Author:  [@WPA-Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WPA-Guy)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2009, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-structures/517346/18 "2009-11-13T02:42:57Z")
Pittsburgh: Point State Park – The apex of the Golden Triangle http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/p/m/3e31f9/"][http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/p/m/3e31f9/](http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/p/m/3e31f9/)
Philly: The Liberty Bell and/or Independence Hall
Erie: The flagship Niagara
Cleveland: Terminal Tower
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2009, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-structures/517346/19 "2009-11-13T04:57:47Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> London . . . Probably it’s Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.
Probably Big Ben’s tower . . . but for many it’d be the Tower Bridge (especially for people who think it’s the “London Bridge”)
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### Author:  [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2009, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-structures/517346/20 "2009-11-13T05:10:16Z")
> [@Noone\_Special](#):
>
> Firenze (Florence) – David.
I would say [Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Santa_Maria_del_Fiore.jpg)
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