Last week the American Institute of Architects announced the results of their public poll on America’s 150 favorite architectural sites. Topping the list was the Empire State Building in New York City and at the bottom of the list was Battle Hall at The University of Texas Austin. Other notable results were the World Trade Center Towers which still endure in the hearts and minds of American’s with a 19th placing, as well as the gateway to the west, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis coming in at 12th.

The poll was created in conjunction with the institute’s celebration of its 150th anniversary, which occurs this year and is dedicated to “Celebrating the Past, Designing the Future.” The anniversary is an opportunity to focus on how the members of the institute’s past help shaped the built environment over the past 150 years and how the future members will help shape the built environment over the next 150 years. The fundamental program of the AIA150, the Blueprint for America, is a program which provides funding for community-service projects in 156 communities across the country. The program initiatives celebrate the role of architects in creating a healthy, more sustainable world.

But back to the list, the list was created in partnership with Harris Interactive (for all you college football fans out there, it’s the same Harris Interacctive that the BCS rankings use) by creating a list of 248 structures, of which 78 at random picks were given to the general public. The list was calculated by using the mean score from the likeability scale used to evaluate each project in the public survey. In the case of a tie, the structures were ranked by the number of times it was mentioned as a favorite and then by the number of nominations it got from members in the AIA when first creating the list of 248.

It’s important to note however, that figures of gender, age, race/ethnicity, income, education and region were weighted when “necessary”, in order to bring them “in line” with the actual proportions in the population.

For the complete list visit the website here

#1 The Empire State Building

#2 The White House

#8 Biltmore Estates/Vanderbilt Residence