Buildings that visually terminate roadways.

[STERNyc]

Since a kid I have always loved buildings that visually terminated a street, for me these buildings were the ultimate expression of the city and that these buildings were so to speak the top dog. I only know of a few buildings that end an otherwise typical cityscape with there presence of a bold imposition. I’m opening this thread for discussion of these types of buildings and hopefully as an outlet for others to post similar buildings.



Buffalo, Main Street, HSBC Tower:



Unfortunately this was the only picture that I could find.



New York, Park Avenue, New York Central Building:



Later followed by.....

New York, Park Avenue, Met Life Building:









Whereas most of these types of buildings only terminate one or two streets, the Met Life Building terminates four.





Chicago, LaSalle Street, Chicago Board of Trade:

[Steely Dan]

trump tower chicago is shaping up to be a magnificent street terminator. here's a little montage Bvictor put together to show how it will be a terminator for all 4 cardinal directions (3 streets and 1 river canyon).

Originally Posted by BVictor1

Someone on Skyscrapercity was talking about how Trump Tower will act as a terminus to Wabash Avenue, and I decided to just throw this together.

It will be a terminus from all 4 directions pratically.

From east-to-west: Looking at it from the turnung basin west of the Chicago locks, from Lake Shore Drive, Columbus Drive, and to some extent Michigan Avenue.



Taken December 19, 2006




From west-to-east: Looking down Kinzie Street. It won't make as great of an impact from there because of the buildings setbacks, but you'll notice the verticle edge.



Taken November 27, 2006

From north-to-south: We already know the impact looking south down Wabash. It will be spectacular.



Taken on December 4, 2006


From south-to-north: The view down Wabash from the South Loop and beyond and from Lake Street will be stunning.

Taken December 21, 2006


Taken January 2, 2007

[SHOFEAR]

Edmonton's CN tower. It is located infront the old rail ROW and was used as a passenger terminal.

[M.K.]

In Munich, the new building of BMW Engineering was built in the middle of the street interrupting it. See the left one in the pic.

[GVNY]

A particular favourite of mine:

[JManc]

[Awkab]

EDIT: Oh ^, you beat me to it!

A classic roadway terminator: Philadelphia's City Hall. It sits smack-dab in the middle of the two main streets in Philly, Broad Street and Market Street, which forces the streets to create a square around it, and has been confusing out-of-towners since 1901.

All photos from Gio's Phillyskyline.com:

[LordMandeep]

I like Park ave.

[JonVegas]

Before they put the canopy up this was a fantastic view.

[theWatusi]

Another nice "street terminator" buildings in Philly


Art Museum

[PhillyRising]

Originally Posted by jmancuso

...and to think they wanted to tear down the whole thing back in the 1950's.

[David]

I love buildings that do this! The best example in Vancouver is the Marine Building, although it doesn't technically terminate Hastings Street: Hastings skirts around it as the grid switches to diagonal

[NightHawk]

Couple more examples from Vancouver.

Shaw Tower:



Water Street:



Dunsmuir Street:

[kznyc2k]

^ I never realized how big the tower part was on Philly's City Hall. Talk about overkill..

NYC's Municipal Building

[Arriviste]

Calgary only has one noteable. You can see the termination of Centre Street North on the right side of the photo.

[Boris2k7]

^ There is also Gulf Canada Square, which terminates 3rd Street...

[STERNyc]

Time Warner Center:



The giant glass space between the towers is where the road would have been.

[M.K.]

There is also the Maximilianeum in Munich that terminates or is in the middle of the richest street in city, which is one building a like very much its architecture and the nearby-

[Stephenapolis]

I for one like when buildings do this. It calls more attention (good and bad) to the building from street level. We really do not have one in Minneapolis. The Hennipen County Government Center is the closest thing we have. When you look down Sixth Street the building looks as if it terminates the street. But in reality the street passes through the building. It is pretty neat but a serious wind tunnel.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by PhillyNation

...and to think they wanted to tear down the whole thing back in the 1950's.

your f'ing kidding me!