One of my absolute favorite tours is the "Four Rail" LA Skyscraper Tour.  Not only do we see 100 years of skyscraper design evolution, we also ride subways, light rail, funiculars and Amtrak.  The city looks a lot different from the second floor of a train than it does from the freeway!  You have time to really observe, and the tracks tend to pass through the guts of a city - its storage yards, depots, backyards, warehouses and the like.

     We boarded at the Irvine Station and were at Union Station in a little over an hour.  The new lobby of LA's Redline Subway is quite attractive with a huge mural and a huge, domed decorative skylight.
The mural and skylight in the Red Line Subway lobby at
Union Station.

Two quick stops later, we ascended to Pershing Square, once downtown LA's signature gathering spot and now a disjointed but colorful space disconnected from surrounding streets.

Although the first goal of the tour is sheer enjoyment, I taught my group to spot distinct stages in skyscraper development.  That is, you can look at the building's design and guess its style and approximate date of construction.  It turns out that LA, although having a less impressive amount of skyscrapers compared to New York or Chicago, has good examples of the major periods of skyscraper design.


STAGE 1: BUILDING AS CLASSICAL COLUMN - The first stage created skyscrapers that looked like columns, with a capital, shaft and base.  The Continental Bank Building, also called the Braly Block, fits this description very closely.

Notice how the building has three distinct elements: an ornamental top or capital, a elongated shaft, and a differentiated base.  The heavy cornice is also typical of many of the early skyscrapers.  These beauties were generally built between 1880 and 1920.

STAGE 2: BUILDING AS STEPPED-UP, DECORATIVE WEDDING CAKE - The next phase is heavily influenced by the Art Deco movement.  Here lush ornament - whether geometric or organic - is placed on the inside and out.
Art Deco (also called ZigZag Moderne - 1924 - 1932)



STAGE 4:  BUILDING AS GEOMETRIC SHAPE 

OR VOLUME WITH LITTLE ORNAMENT

Modernism in architecture wanted "form to follow function."  It rejected unnecessary details or historical references in favor of glass, concrete and steel.  Because many of the skyscrapers looked so similar the style was dubbed "International Style".
Many of these modernist buildings can be quite elegant in their simplicity given the right materials.  1948 - 1965




STAGE 5:  BREAKING UP THE BOX - From about 1965 - 1980, many architects experimented with more interesting shapes, reflective glass and new materials.  Hotel Bonaventure is a good example of this experimentation.

STAGE 6:  POST-MODERNISM - Some architects grew tired of boxy, plain designs and wanted to add symbolic, historic or cultural references in their buildings.  They thought "less is a bore" and designed some playful buildings of modern materials.  The Library Tower (US Bank building) of the early 1990s is a muted example
Post Modernism with its subtle references to art deco.
      
STAGE 7: NEW MODERNISM -  Many of the newest buildings defy classification.  Gehry's Disney Concert Hall could be called "Lyrical Modernism".  Some of the designs of the 21st century go by the label "New Sculpturalism".

Whatever they are called, it's fun to study buildings, guess their time period and style.  Most importantly, buildings should be functional and beautiful.

As we ended our Skyscraper Tour, we rode the funicular "Angels Flight" down Bunker Hill to the subway and home.