Building up to something beautiful

New York has been voted the ugliest American city, not because of its architecture, but because of its people.

Just kidding. It’s because of its architecture. Probably.

Europe does things a little better, but not by much. There’s a building in London called The Walkie-Talkie, presumably due to its resemblance to a refrigerator.

So neither of these two major cities is wholly pretty. But I have to be fair. There’s not much to brag about in my home state of New Jersey, unless you count some oddly-shaped potholes.

When did we decide that metal behemoths that lacked light, ornaments, and access to...