PBS Airs 10 BUILDINGS THAT CHANGED AMERICA Tonight

10 BUILDINGS THAT CHANGED AMERICA, a new PBS special about ten influential American buildings that changed the way we live, work, and play, premieres tonight, May 12, 2013 at 10:00 p.m. ET (check local listings). Written and produced by Dan Protess and hosted by Geoffrey Baer, the program was shot on location from Massachusetts to Los Angeles, and features rare archival images, distinctive animation, and interviews with some of the nation's most insightful historians and architects, including Frank Gehry and Robert Venturi.

10 Buildings That Changed America is a journey that takes viewers inside these groundbreaking works of art and engineering to reveal the shocking, funny, and even sad stories of how these buildings came to be. From the glorious Trinity Church, designed as "an envelope" for The Voice of Rector Phillips Brooks (best known today as the writer of "O Little Town of Bethlehem"), to the Highland Park Ford Plant, designed by Jewish architect Albert Kahn, whose partnership with Henry Ford flourished despite Ford's anti-Semitism, the program explores how their construction had consequences -- some unintended -- for cities and communities across the country. Ultimately, the program is a journey inside the imaginations of a group of architects who dared to create these influential structures.

The ten buildings featured are:

Virginia State Capitol, Richmond, VA (1788)
Designed by Thomas Jefferson, the Virginia State Capitol marked the beginning of the American tradition of modeling government buildings on Roman and Greek temples.

Trinity Church, Boston, MA (1877)
H.H. Richardson's Trinity Church was the first example of the architect's Richardsonian Romanesque style, which was later used in churches and civic buildings across America.

Wainwright Building, St. Louis, MO (1891)
Louis Sullivan's Wainwright Building was not the first skyscraper, but it gave the modern, steel-frame skyscraper its form. Historian Tim Samuelson said that it "taught the skyscraper to soar."

Robie House, Chicago, IL (1910)
The Robie House is considered a Masterpiece of Frank Lloyd Wright's prairie style, which transformed the American home.

Highland Park Ford Plant, Highland Park, MI (1910)
The Highland Park Ford Plant was the birthplace of the moving assembly line.

Southdale Center, Edina, MN (1956)
Southdale Center was America's first fully-enclosed, indoor shopping mall.

Seagram Building, New York, NY (1958)
Mies van der Rohe's Seagram Building was the model for modernist skyscrapers Built across the country in the mid-20th Century: a black, glass box, set back on an open plaza.

Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, VA (1962)
Eero Saarinen's Dulles International Airport was the first airport in the world designed exclusively for jets.

Vanna Venturi House, Philadelphia, PA (1964)
The Vanna Venturi House is considered by many to be the first postmodern building.

Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, CA (2003)
Frank Gehry's striking and avant garde Walt Disney Concert Hall, home to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, is one of the most acoustically sophisticated music venues in the world.

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