Louisiana City Skylines

[NCB]

I not saying it's good to see the streets, I'm just saying pictures like that are tricky. It's hard to explain. Or maybe it's just me? Where are those pills my psychoitrist gave?

Oh I know, I was just saying I like the fact that you can't see the streets because of all the buildings, rather than seeing a city center filled with parking lots.

[UptownNewOrleans]

For it's size, Tulsa has an amazing skyline. Tulsa's skyline is in my top 10 up & coming skyline list. I'm in Houston right now and Houston's downtown has always been off the chain.

[bluff2085]

I know what you mean, dan. The aerials are cool in a lot of ways but they don't do justice to the human scale of an urban setting. All you see is the buildings. A shot from the street is more realistic because it's "to scale."

[TBurban]

Hey Nate, whats that other arena-looking building next to the Superdome?

[NCB]

^That's the New Orleans Arena, home of the NBA's New Orleans Hornets and the AFL's New Orleans Voodoo. It seats about 18,500 for basketball, and about 16,000 for arena football. Though it looks tiny compared to the massive Superdome, especially from above. Link

[dan326]

You never thing it holds 18,500 seats. Of course, stadiums never seem like they could hold as much as they can.

[richyb83]

Thanks for starting this thread; it's one of my favorites.

There have been so many great skyline matches ! It's sometimes hard to remember making sure not to duplicate all the past match-up's.

Maybe a Mountain West show-down (semi-finals)

> Salt Lake City vs. Albuquerque

or

> Tucson vs. Boise

How do those sound??

[dan326]

Here's a match up with cities this time: Baton Rouge vs. Grand Rapids. Sure they're both sparsely adorned, but they had many similarities so I couldn't pass it up.

Grand Rapids

City population- 197,800

Metro population- 771,185

Tallest building: Plaza Towers- 345 ft

Number of buildings above 400 feet: 0

Number of buildings above 200 feet: 5

Baton Rouge

City population- 224,097

Metro population- 751,965

Tallest building: Louisiana State Capitol- 450 ft

Number of buildings above 400 feet: 1

Number of buildings above 200 feet: 5

They also have similar new tallest/2nd tallest. 30+ story RiverPlace Condominiums in Baton Rouge and 34 story River House Condominiums in Grand Rapids.

[richyb83]

That BR photo in the middle is OLD...that's the old Dept. of Education Bldg. that was demolished years ago.+ it cut's off the Chase Tower. BR needs all the help it can get.

[richyb83]

This pic shows more of the skyline from a more dense angle. I might still give Grand Rapids the edge( it's close IMO); but that could change in a couple of years with 3 or 4 major projects changing BR's skyline dramatically.

[dimebag1980]

Dan, I never would have thought of that matchup - good one!!

Some of the things I've seen here on UP make me want to give Grand Rapids the edge in this, until Riverplace is done and then Baton Rouge will start catching up fast.

[richyb83]

Dan, I never would have thought of that matchup - good one!!

Yes Dan, that's a good match-up!!! The difference looks to be Grand Rapids has more older buildings less than 200'ft. that gives better density than BR.

[NCB]

Yes, awesome match up, Dan!

But I'm also going to have to take Grand Rapids in this one. The skyline looks larger, more dense, and more impressive to me, really. But maybe that will change in a few years with the new projects going up in Baton Rouge.

[dan326]

Yeh Grand Rapids does have a farely dense skyline. Grand Rapids may still be giving Baton Rouge a run for it's money in a few years with it's 34 story River House Condominiums and 24 story J.W. Marriott. They even have a 13 story courthouse built in 2001. Somewhat similar shapes too.

[richyb83]

24 story J.W. Marriott

That's exactly what Baton Rouge's skyline lacks...a "true" high-rise hotel downtown; BR's 22-story Marriott is over 4 miles away from the CBD.

[dan326]

Well, you never know. If Grand Rapids can get a nice highrise hotel, than we probably could too, especially with all these new people.

[dan326]

I think one of these has already been used, but it's still a good match. I had to go over seas to find an opponent.

Seattle

City population- 578,700

Metro population- 3,806,453

Space Needle- 605 ft

Tallest building: Columbia Center- 937 ft

Number of buildings above 900 feet: 1

Number of buildings above 600 feet: 5

Number of buildings above 300 feet:39

Sydney

Metro population- 4,254,900

Sydney Tower- 1,001 ft

Tallest building: Chifley Tower- 801 ft

Number of buildings above 900 feet: 0

Number of buildings above 600 feet: 12

Number of buildings above 300 feet:111

[NCB]

Another awesome matchup, Dan! I don't know why I missed this thread again.

This is extremely close, as I love Seattle's skyline, which has a very "big city" look and feel to it, but I also love Sydney's skyline with the very nicely designed towers and the beautiful waterfront.

You know what, I didn't expect this, but I think I'm going to pick Seattle as my winner. I just love the look of that skyline; very dense, tall, and long.

[richyb83]

Another awesome matchup, Dan!

Yeah you right! Very impressive match-up between two "powerhouses"! They even both have observation towers.

I really like both skylines....it almost comes down to which one is my favorite individual photo?? I'm with Nate, Seattle wins this one, but it's very close. Mt.Rainer in the background is awesome looking. The Opera House in Sydney is cool looking too.

I trust those numbers; but it's hard to see Sydney has twice as many 600'ft. (12 to 5)

[dan326]

I was wondering when ya'll would respond, I was about to post a little flier in Lagniappe.

I think I'll have to go with ya'll on this one, I like the density in the Seattle skyline.

[dan326]

Once again I reused a city, but I think you'll like this one.

Indianapolis

City population- 791,926

Metro population- 1,939,349

Tallest building: Chase Tower- 811 ft

Number of buildings above 800 feet: 1

Number of buildings above 500 feet: 3

Number of buildings above 200 feet:29

Cleveland

City population- 478,403

Metro population- 2,250,871

Tallest building: Key Tower- 947 ft

Number of buildings above 800 feet: 1

Number of buildings above 500 feet: 4

Number of buildings above 200 feet:43

[richyb83]

I waited for some replies...so I'll just go first

Another good one Dan. I have seen both cities before..but different match-up. Each skyline is nice. The shear number of buildings in Cleveland(older city) with nice variety get my vote. Key Tower is nice; and happens to be the tallest skyscraper between NYC and Chicago.

Indy has some nice buildings too. I like the last pic with the skyscraper w/ the inclined-roof looks cool behind the Capitol building.

[NCB]

Another great skyline battle, Dan! I'm very sorry about the late reply, I've been reminding myself about this thread each night, and each night I forget!

As for the battle, I'll definately have to go with Cleveland. I love Indianapolis' skyline, but the overall size, density, and varying architecture of Cleveland's skyline is just more impressive in my opinion. Cleveland's skyline has been growing on me quite a bit recently, and it is now probably one of my favorites in the U.S.

[fridayinla]

Wow, I didn't realize you guys such a hot thread about skylines here. I know Houston's skyline is often compared to LA's, but in my opinion LA blows Houston out of the water. LA has numerious skylines that many people don't often see, like Century City, Westwood, Glendale, Universal City/Burbank, Warner Center, Mid-Wilshire/Miracle Mile, and many sporadic highrises throughout Hollywood. I'll share some:

This shot is my favorite of downtown:

Century City (West LA, about 10 miles from downtown):

Westwood (West LA also, near Century City, but entirely separate):

Glendale (5 miles north of downtown):

Universal City/Burbank (8-10 miles west of downtown, north of hollywood hills):

Mid-Wilshire/Koreatown:

Koreatown in the foreground with Hollywood in the back:

Historic Hollywood in the foreground of this city, downtown LA in the distance:

[dan326]

Another great skyline battle, Dan! I'm very sorry about the late reply, I've been reminding myself about this thread each night, and each night I forget!

As for the battle, I'll definately have to go with Cleveland. I love Indianapolis' skyline, but the overall size, density, and varying architecture of Cleveland's skyline is just more impressive in my opinion. Cleveland's skyline has been growing on me quite a bit recently, and it is now probably one of my favorites in the U.S.

Yeah that's what I thought. I tried to put them together because they had similar looking tallests , but in the end it's always the density that wins it. Mark my words though, one day I will find a battle that will stump you all!

Also no one do a battle with Los Angeles as I have one lined up with it in it.