# What post-WWII buildings will be preserved as historical 100 years from now? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 22, 2010, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-post-wwii-buildings-will-be-preserved-as-historical-100-years-from-now/551102 "2010-08-22T22:32:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-post-wwii-buildings-will-be-preserved-as-historical-100-years-from-now/551102/1 "2010-08-22T22:32:16Z")
Every town and city in America more than 100 years old has some old buildings which have survived to the present and by law cannot be demolished, because they are considered to have historic value – not just churches and monuments, but commercial buildings and houses and apartment buildings. Looking at everything built in America from WWII to the present day – which includes a whole lot of suburbs and strip malls, and a lot of modern architecture which many people think doesn’t look so great now – what will still be standing, 100 years from now? And of that, what will be considered worthy of historical preservation? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-post-wwii-buildings-will-be-preserved-as-historical-100-years-from-now/551102/2 "2010-08-22T22:43:13Z")
I think the Capitol Records Building will be one. > **[Capitol Records Building](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Records_Building)** > > The Capitol Records Building, also known as the Capitol Records Tower, is a 13-story tower building in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Designed by Louis Naidorf of Welton Becket Associates, it is one of the city's landmarks. Construction began soon after British music company EMI acquired Capitol Records in 1955, and was completed in April 1956. Located just north of the Hollywood and Vine intersection, the Capitol Records Tower houses the consolidation of Capitol Records' West Coast operations and is Th... ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-post-wwii-buildings-will-be-preserved-as-historical-100-years-from-now/551102/3 "2010-08-22T23:37:29Z")
The Christian Science Center in Boston. Boston’s Faneiul Market New York City’s Guggenheim Museum San Francisco’s Transamerican Pyramid New York City’s UN Plaza New York City’s UN Headquarters The Frank Gehry House in Santa Monica ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-post-wwii-buildings-will-be-preserved-as-historical-100-years-from-now/551102/4 "2010-08-22T23:44:39Z")
UN Headquarters are, to be honest, really pretty hideous. I stayed in the Millennium Hotel on the other side of UN Plaza during my honeymoon and I couldn’t believe how unassuming the UN buildings were from the front, and how ugly they are from above. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-post-wwii-buildings-will-be-preserved-as-historical-100-years-from-now/551102/5 "2010-08-23T01:31:40Z")
The Pentagon ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-post-wwii-buildings-will-be-preserved-as-historical-100-years-from-now/551102/6 "2010-08-23T01:32:03Z")
And this poll is now being relocated to IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-post-wwii-buildings-will-be-preserved-as-historical-100-years-from-now/551102/7 "2010-08-23T02:18:59Z")
Most of the Smithsonian buildings on the Mall. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-post-wwii-buildings-will-be-preserved-as-historical-100-years-from-now/551102/8 "2010-08-23T02:27:11Z")
The Seagram Building Lever House Philip Johnson’s Glass House The Yale Art and Architecture Building (although I hate Brutalism). ---
**Author:** ![audit1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@audit1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audit1)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-post-wwii-buildings-will-be-preserved-as-historical-100-years-from-now/551102/9 "2010-08-23T02:50:00Z")
GateWay Arch St Louis Space Needle Seattle ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-post-wwii-buildings-will-be-preserved-as-historical-100-years-from-now/551102/10 "2010-08-23T02:55:17Z")
The Sears (Willis) Tower in Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-post-wwii-buildings-will-be-preserved-as-historical-100-years-from-now/551102/11 "2010-08-23T03:58:57Z")
Pompidou Center, Paris Sagrada Familia, Barcelona (if it can be considered partially post-WWII) Freedom Tower, New York City (if it ever actually gets built) Hundertwasserhaus, Vienna Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-post-wwii-buildings-will-be-preserved-as-historical-100-years-from-now/551102/12 "2010-08-23T04:01:53Z")
The [Sydney Opera House](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Opera_House). ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-post-wwii-buildings-will-be-preserved-as-historical-100-years-from-now/551102/13 "2010-08-23T04:04:28Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Pompidou Center, Paris > Sagrada Familia, Barcelona (if it can be considered partially post-WWII) > Freedom Tower, New York City (if it ever actually gets built) > Hundertwasserhaus, Vienna > Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain I think there will be tons of buildings all over the world that last another century, but not many in the US. We seem to tire of them, and more often rip them down and replace them rather than renovate them. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-post-wwii-buildings-will-be-preserved-as-historical-100-years-from-now/551102/14 "2010-08-23T04:17:11Z")
High rise buildings will have the hardest time of it, I think. They are very maintenance intensive, and they are built on extremely valuable land. Indeed, their very existence contributed to the value - the nexus between the height of a building -\> the amount of productivity that can be derived from the land it is on -\> the value of the land is well understood. The economic drivers for such buildings depend on the private owners of the land getting great returns. Businesses that tenant these buildings have a tendency to chase the Shiny New Thing, and there are always lean times where there is oversupply of office space and older buildings struggle to get tenants, which starts a spiral of deterioration. Refurbs can only do so much to halt the slide, because sooner or later the standard assumptions about services, etc, which drove the older buildings (eg, lift supply and speed, availability of services for kitchen space, parking and access, etc) will become superseded by new standards. Further, the “fahionability” of whole districts can shift within a CBD - areas that were once hugely dynamic can become seedy and rundown, and a beautiful building can be essentially left behind in all this. No matter the architectural worth of such a building, there will likely come a time when it is no longer fashionable in a business sense to be a tenant of it. And the grace of the Chrysler building will not prevail if it cannot be tenanted - the owners cannot in any practical sense be forced to maintain a building the market is not filling with tenants. The logical end of this process occurs in Las Vegas, where buildings that are a central part of its iconic history like the Sands and the Desert Inn are pulled down in an eyeblink if they can’t compete with the Bellagio. What will tend to prevail, I suspect, are publicly owned buildings built for a specific purpose (so that market economy drivers are a less compelling factor) which are relatively small and so can have a thematic unity that makes them attractive and iconic. The Sydney Opera House is an example of what I mean. The Pentagon is another (although the rapidly changing demands of the military may well condemn it, too.) The Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbour (memorials tend to have a long shelf life). No doubt there are others. So far as private buildings are concerned, consistently with the themes I mentioned above I suspect iconic residential houses like Falling Water (even though it is strictly pre-War) will survive. Lastly, and quirkily, I suspect missile silos that are being sold into private hands (if they ever sell, that is) such as [this](http://www.silohome.com/). While they are underground and so are vulnerable to water fill (but probably not collapse, given the purpose for which they were built) if they are sold into private hands then they will be too expensive for a private owner ever to demolish them, even if they go bankrupt. They will sit and deteriote, but not be destroyed. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-post-wwii-buildings-will-be-preserved-as-historical-100-years-from-now/551102/15 "2010-08-23T05:51:47Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > The [Sydney Opera House](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Opera_House). I should have included this. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-post-wwii-buildings-will-be-preserved-as-historical-100-years-from-now/551102/16 "2010-08-23T06:59:57Z")
The Marin County Civic Center. I happen to love it, many hate it. It’s a Frank Lloyd Wright. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-post-wwii-buildings-will-be-preserved-as-historical-100-years-from-now/551102/17 "2010-08-23T07:48:36Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > The Seagram Building > Lever House I used to walk by Lever House every morning, without realizing it. I’d heard that it was a famous building in the area, and assumed it was what turned out to be the [Racquet and Tennis Club](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racquet_and_Tennis_Club) one block down - which, while not exceptionally beautiful as far as those types of buildings go, is pleasing enough to the eye. I was stunned to learn that the world-famous Lever House was actually [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lever_House) rather bland, forgettable skyscraper. Okay, so it has historical value, and on that level I’m perfectly happy for it to last 100 or 1,000 years. But it’s certainly no great beauty, and as someone who’s lived and worked around it, I can say it added no pleasure or inspiration or anything similar to my life. (In fairness, it wasn’t actively depressing like the [worst](http://www.google.com/images?q=boston%20city%20hall&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1280&bih=666) kinds of architecture can be.) I can’t say I ever particularly notice the Seagram building across the street, but the plaza in front of it is nice enough. One I’d add is the [Harold Washington Library](http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&q=harold%20washington%20library&revid=35612253&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1280&bih=666) in Chicago, from 1991. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-post-wwii-buildings-will-be-preserved-as-historical-100-years-from-now/551102/18 "2010-08-23T08:16:03Z")
How many of the buildings are capable of lasting 100 more years? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-post-wwii-buildings-will-be-preserved-as-historical-100-years-from-now/551102/19 "2010-08-23T13:23:53Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > The Marin County Civic Center. I happen to love it, many hate it. It’s a Frank Lloyd Wright. I’m doubtful that any Wright buildings will survive. They are pretty notorious for shoddy construction and ill-fitting seams. They are drafty and they leak. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-post-wwii-buildings-will-be-preserved-as-historical-100-years-from-now/551102/20 "2010-08-23T15:02:50Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > The [Sydney Opera House](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Opera_House). Sydney going to be annexed by the US between now and then? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-post-wwii-buildings-will-be-preserved-as-historical-100-years-from-now/551102.md?page=2)