It has to be Camden Yards. The most beautiful piece of architecture in the Baltimore Area hands down.

We have a few prominent architectural symbols in Baltimore - the Baltimore Aquarium's glass triangle roof, the Washington Monument and the Bromo Seltzer Tower are the three that come to mind.

Please, let's get art that is world class. Something that has more permanence. Baltimore is a city of old architecture and with the Washington Monument as a big symbol of Baltimore, we need something besides the likes of the He-She statue at Penn Station to distinguish the city. We need thoughtful art more than a chopstick explosion or the corrugated steel tubes on the median of North Avenue

The Washington Monument, while not the most beautiful art in the city, is surely symbolic of our history and culture more than any other. My personal favorite though is the “Boy on a Turtle” fountain by Henri Crenier.

If pressed for an opinion on architecture I would have to settle for Penn Station. My personal preference for Beaux-Arts cannot be denied in that choice. The ridiculous Male/Female sculpture in front of it would do well to find itself in the recycling bin however.

Something new?

Perhaps. But not in the middle if a recession using public funds. That would be both obscene and bourgeois right now.

Now it would have to be the Bromo Tower and yes we could use another but I'm not sure the pictured would be it.

This wouldn't use public funds. I don't even think He/She used public funds.

As blunt and simple as He/She may be, at least it's somewhat welcoming. This "chopstick explosion" (I LOVE that) looks like it's going to stab or grab and eat anyone who gets too close.

I think our symbol now is the Inner Harbor skyline, and I don't like that. We could use a more original symbol. We could showcase the Bromo Tower better. Something new would be fantastic. But not this.

I think Baltimore needs art that is inspired by Baltimore, not some sculpture that is repurposed from the 2010 World Equestrian Events. I'm glad to hear that the artist fell in love with Baltimore, but he should use that feeling to conjure up something the people of this city can truly appreciate.

@Dana - the article on this by Ed Gunts says it is privately funded, not publicly.

Where is Black Aggie?

The Battle Monument. It's on the flag.

It's all a big ego maneuver, as if Pat Turner needs such a thing.

This sculpture that is proposed, it kind of looks like a statue you would put on top of a nuclear waste repository to invoke danger. I think I have seen somewhere art such as this, proposed to warn people that nuclear waste is buried beneath it. I'm not kidding either

Does anyone agree with me that the atrocity male/female statue in front of Penn Station should go? Every day I have to drive by that thing and everyday I lament the way it destroys the view of the architecturally gorgeous Penn Station. It's time for someone to knock it down. Whoever was in charge of having that statue installed should never be allowed to make another.

My vote for Baltimore's architectural icon has to be the Baltimore Trust/Maryland National/Bank of America building on Light Street.

The Man-Woman Statue in front of Penn Station tweets: www.twitter.com/manwomanstatue

Even it isn't super excited about this proposed statue.

This is way too funny. Just what Baltimore needs; another piece of "art." It's bad enough that residents and visitors to the city have to see that hideous thing outside Penn Station, or that equally hideous hunk of junk outside the Federal Court House, now we are getting more junk? I'm starting to see a pattern here. The city started recycling a few years ago, and now we get the junk put together as "art." Please, no more eye sores. Isn't Baltimore laughed at enough?

As far as something that stands out and says "Baltimore" I would say the Washington Monument and the Shot Tower. I would say the Bromo Tower also but since they took the Bromo bottle down many years ago, it lost it's significance.

Washington monument, Bromo tower, Fort McHenry, all these are good, but i'm surprised no one's mentioned:

MR BOH!
(as in the brewery building)

"We shall see, stretching over the entire city, still thrilling with the genius of so many centuries, we shall see stretching out like a black blot the odious shadow of the odious column built up of riveted iron plates."

(That's from a letter written about the Eiffel Tower, which opened in 1889. It's heartening to know my fellow Baltimoreans are as surly and critical as Parisians.)

PGP, I would agree with the Bank of America Building. Good call.

Anonymous' Mr. Boh call was good too.

But let's take it a step further and make a Natty Boh search light like the Bat light in Gotham city.

All of the above are good but I prefer the Patterson Park Pagoda. It says "home" to me. Now for national TV, the downtown skyline from Camden Yards---at least before the ugly Hilton was inserted into the view--is the best.