The following 24 (we just couldn’t keep it under 20) buildings, listed from west to east, have all left unmatched marks on Philly and are must-know works of architecture. It’s not just old buildings that are worthy of the “iconic” status-there are newbies like the Comcast Technology Center (the first and second towers) and the Barnes that can’t be ignored. That’s why we’d argue that Philly has some of the most iconic buildings in the U.S., from Independence Hall (It was the birthplace of America, after all) to the always dazzling Philadelphia Museum of Art.

But what Philly has over most cities is age and wisdom, and buildings steeped in rich history. Sure, New York is, well, New York, and Chicago is the city of skyscrapers. As an example of how The Shining’s set takes us through those moods, take a look at the manager’s room, where Jack is interviewed at the beginning of the film it’s a typical 70s office. Futuristic, sharp designs that incorporated glass, metal, and other industrial materials took center-stage, fading out the earth tones and whimsical patterns of the 70’s. But the era's high- and low-end interiors, as Minneapolis Star.

For whatever reason, Philly doesn’t often count among the list of cities with great architecture. Because of technology’s new-found foothold in 80’s offices, design began to shift to harmonize with the machines. These hypothetical hipsters aren't wrong: The 1970s was an age of bold-but-earthy patterns, inspired by the nascent environmental movement cartoonishly decadent and overwrought entertaining areas of marble, brass, fur, and shag and impossibly busy 'op-art' textiles and wallpaper.

70s office building inside