The Race to the Top

Recently on Highways & Byways…

From the TELL US section: Landmark buildings

Paris has the Eiffel Tower. London has Big Ben. And Madrid has the Metropolis Building, which is by far my favorite landmark building in the entire city.

Sure, there are others such as the Communications Palace in the Plaza de Cibeles, the Torre de Madrid in the Plaza de España and the Puerta de Europa, or KIA Towers, to the north on Paseo de la Castellana.

But with its majestic cupola and statue of the winged goddess Victoria, no other landmark comes close to capturing the true spirit of Madrid quite like the Metropolis Building does. Even the name has a certain ring to it.


Metropolis Building

Two landmark buildings I discussed on the program are located in New York City: the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building.

The construction of these two landmarks goes back to two men who competed against each other in the automobile industry: the founder of Chrysler, Walter Chrysler, and the CEO of General Motors, John Jakob Raskob. Their mission was not only to see who could build the world’s tallest building, but who could do it the fastest. Strangely enough, this show of extravagance was taking place during the Great Depression in the United States.


Empire State Building

Just 14 months after breaking ground in 1930, the Empire State Building was the first of the two to open to the public.
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Vocabulary:

Landmark. Monumento, edificio famoso

By far. Con mucha diferencia

Even the name has a certain ring to it. Suena bien: Incluso el nombre suena bien.

To break ground (irregular verb: break / broke / broken). Empezar a construir


Published by: Drew Crosby