(gentle music) - [Narrator] For as long
as societies have existed, humans have been building
incredible monuments and landmarks dedicated to, well, humans. Some of these landmarks
have been around for so long we take them for granted. But not every monument was destined to look the way it does today. Alternative designs have been pitched for almost every structure you know of. From a goth version of the Taj Mahal to a Mount Rushmore with
a woman's face on it. And even weirdly wacky
White House designs. Don't believe me? Well, get ready to feast
your eyes on some of the boldest, coolest and craziest ways famous landmarks around the
world could have turned out. (upbeat music) An edgy design. The world's fair is an important part of architectural history. When cities host the event
they tend to commission impressive and amazing structures that redefine their skylines. The world's fair is responsible for landmarks like the
Seattle Space Needle, Brussels Atomium and
Paris' enormous guillotine. Oh wait, sorry, I meant the Eiffel Tower. Though it very nearly was a giant version of that massive head removing apparatus. When Paris landed the host position at the world's fair in 1889, the French wanted to
commemorate the occasion with a new landmark. Before Gustav Eiffel's tower
design was chosen, however, 700 other designs were
submitted for consideration. One was a giant lighthouse nearly 1000 feet tall
made of solid granite. Its designer claimed it would
also feature lights so bright nearly everyone in Paris would be able to read
a newspaper at night. Imagine living next to that,
trying to get some sleep. The real piece de resistance
though, was this pitch for an enormous guillotine
right in the center of Paris. The guillotine would commemorate
the French Revolution, where the French used one
of these deadly devices to dispose of the Royal family and many members of the ruling class. Though it was never
revealed exactly how tall this guillotine was supposed to be, it would've been big enough to make the Statue of Liberty sweat, if she ever got on the wrong
side of the French people. A Capitol chicken. In many ways, the Capitol Building is at the heart of American democracy. It's housed Congress for over 120 years. It's where presidents are sworn in and where the laws of
the nation are written. But for all that, it
almost ended up looking like a fried chicken,
fast food restaurant. In 1792, Thomas Jefferson proposed an architectural competition
be held to decide on the design for the, then unbuilt, Capitol Building. Jefferson was an architect himself so he figured he could pick a design that would please his
buddy, the very first President of the United
States, George Washington. But there was an entry that
certainly didn't impress him. This one, from amateur
architect James Diamond. While the building itself isn't too bad, it featured an unfortunate
irregularity at the top. This sketch is meant to
represent a weather vane. And no it isn't shaped like a chicken, it's meant to be a bald eagle. The giant derpy-looking bird
didn't impress Washington and in 1793, they went with
William Thornton's design, which they thought expressed
grandeur and beauty. Here's a fun fact for you,
when they were deciding what America's national bird would be, Benjamin Franklin championed
the mighty Turkey. So, as silly as Diamond's design looks, it could have been even worse. L'elephant de Triomphe. Let's move back to sophisticated Paris. And no, don't worry, they
weren't proposing anything crazy like building a giant electric
chair in place of the Louvre. Now, the Arc de Triomphe was commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 to
commemorate and celebrate France's many military victories. Well, technically, Napoleon's
many military victories. It was finished in 1836 and
now stands as a testament to the enduring spirit
of the French people, along with Napoleon's ego. 45 years earlier, however, a much stranger design
was pitched in its place, L'Elephant Triomphal. This absolutely insane elephant
monument would've featured a spiral staircase leading
into the animal's belly, along with a complex drainage system so that water would be constantly
spewing from its trunk. While the elephant would've
only stood 33 feet tall, 130 feet smaller than the arch, it would've featured some
extravagant interior decor and even a garden. Sadly, the design was rejected
by the French government. However, Napoleon may have been inspired by the unused design when he commissioned the L'Elephant de Bastille monument, which was sadly never finished. This would've been only 15 minutes away from Moulin Rouge park, which also used to feature
a giant elephant statue. "Why was Paris so obsessed with
elephants?" I hear you ask. Well, they were just a
late Renaissance fixation for the French, being
perceived as noble and strong. That said, it's pretty amazing
to think that Paris's skyline could have looked completely
different to what it is today. Giant elephants, massive
guillotines, that sounds more like some sort of fever dream than a skyline. The Full Rushmore. Mount Rushmore is dedicated to some of America's most
important presidents. The monument took 14
grueling years to finish, with each face being carved out of the mountain by hand and measuring in at a staggering 60 feet. But technically it's only half finished. The project began in 1927,
under the supervision of a man named Gutzon Borglum. Borglum was obsessed with
the idea of a monument to the great men of American history and originally had wanted to include the bodies of the presidents
in the rock face as well, just in case anyone thought they might be inappropriately shirtless below the neck. Borglum also planned to include the entire history of America but Congress eventually
scaled back the project, recognizing Borglum was going overboard. However, after construction
began, it was pitched that Susan B. Anthony,
an important abolitionist and women's rights advocate
be added to the monument. This idea was so popular that a congressional bill
was written to include Susan and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt even wrote to Borglum
herself, praising the idea. So why isn't Susan on the mountain today? Well, Borglum was a massive bigot and fought tooth and nail against the idea of any women being featured
on his very manly mountain. But that wasn't the only reason. The monument had already
taken 14 years to carve out and adding Susan would've extended construction time to 17.5 years. Including all the bodies
may have doubled that. If they wanted to include the
entire history of America, well, heck they might still
have been working on it today. What do you think, should old Susan have been
engraved on that mountain? And if you could pick anyone
else to be immortalized on Mountain Rushmore, who would it be? Elvis Presley? Michael Jordan? Hulk Hogan? Let me know down in the comments below and be sure to subscribe
for more amazing content. Now, what have we got next? Enigma of the Black Taj. India's Taj Mahal is one
of the most recognizable and beloved buildings in the world. But it's pristine marble hides
a dark secret, literally. Shah Jahan, the once
Mughal emperor of India was a great lover of grand architecture and is responsible for
some amazing structures, such as the Wazir Khan and, likely, "Aladdin" inspiring Jama Masjid. When his beloved wife
Mumtaz Mahal died in 1631, Jahan was so heartbroke he commissioned his greatest project yet, her mausoleum. Built over 22 years, the Taj Mahal is a marvel of engineering
and was constructed to be completely symmetrical,
down to the tiniest detail. It's so symmetrical, in fact, that many historians believe
the Taj Mahal is incomplete. Why? Well, because there's only one. Somewhere between 1640 and 1655, Jahan actually began construction of a second Taj Mahal across
the river from the first. This Mahal would've been identical to the first in every way except for one, instead of white marble, it would've been made
from pitch black stone. This would further the beautiful symmetry begun in the original and Jahan plans to be buried in the dark
Taj across from his wife. Unfortunately, after his
passing, Jahan's children were so preoccupied fighting each other over the emperor's inheritance that the project was all but forgotten. Talk about having a dark past. #quadrupletowers. September 11th, 2001 was a
dark day for New York City. An attack on the World
Trade Center devastated both the near 1800 feet Twin Towers and left a huge mark in American history. It was eventually decided
that a new World Trade Center would be constructed not
far from the original site. While SOMs One World
Trade Center design won the honor of being built, the competition was heated and several alternative
designs were proposed. Foster + Partners, for example, put forward this towering
horrifying sun blotting design that has more angles
than a geometry class. Shigeru Ban pitched this design, which either looks like
an untextured building from a video game or like Spider-Man has just done a couple laps around it. The proposal that takes the cake, however, has to be the Richard
Meier and Partners design. The RMP Design would've featured not one, not two but five towers. Each over 1000 feet tall. What's more, each tower would
be connected to the next through a series of skyscraper bridges, making them resemble a
series of enormous hashtags. Even they admitted this themselves but argued the sign promotes
harmony, stability and dignity. You can really tell they wrote
that before Twitter existed. Zany Ziggurats. When you picture the Lincoln Memorial, what descriptors come to mind? Probably words like stoic,
proud and dignified, right? You don't think horrifying,
imposing or a cult. Well that's because they didn't go for one of the rejected designs,
which are all pretty crazy. One featured a giant ancient
Egyptian looking pyramid. While another was an ancient
Greek Parthenon-style building. Real lack of originality
on display here guys. The best and scariest ripoff,
however, must be this, the Lincoln Ziggurat. Ziggurats are tiered pyramids
made from large steps and trace their origins
to ancient Mesopotamia. They also look a little too threatening for a memorial if you ask me. I mean, imagine the giant Lincoln statue perched on top of this
staring down at you. Not quite as inspiring
as it is terrifying. The ziggurat appears to
be about 100 feet tall, so about the height of
a nine story building, and would've featured
an entrance at the base. What would've been inside
was never depicted, presumably a sacrificial chamber where you would offer your
firstborn to High Lord Lincoln. In the end, they went with
the much less ostentatious Lincoln Memorial we all know today. It was unveiled on May 30th, 1922 and dedicated by former
president William Taft. I'm sure he was wondering
when his giant memorial was going to be built the whole time. Sorry Taft, not yet. Mario Kart Bridge. London Bridge is a beautiful and iconic piece of architecture. For over a century, it's
been one of London's most enduring and defining landmarks. Except this isn't London
Bridge, it's Tower bridge. This miserable, boring slab
of concrete is London Bridge. Don't feel bad though, mixing these two up must be one of the most common labeling mistakes in the world. It probably wouldn't
happen as much, however, if Tower Bridge had gone
with another proposed design. This incredibly unique
bridge, proposed by FJ Palmer back in the 19th century,
resembles a fancy figure eight but it kind of looks
like it's been plucked straight off a Mario Kart track. So, assuming you don't have
any red shells to contend with while you're crossing this
thing, how would it work? Well, each loop of the bridge features two retractable
sections at either side. This meant that, if a ship needed to pass, one section could be retracted and the ship could enter
the center of the loop. And then, once the first
section was replaced, the other end could be retracted. This would mean a ship could
pass through the bridge without foot traffic ever stopping. While that may seem like a lot of hassle, it's far more considerate to road users than the current bridge, which grinds traffic to a halt
whenever a ship passes by. So why was this design rejected? Well, it's possible it
was just too complex. The Tower Bridge we know
today took eight years, and 70,000 tons of concrete,
10,000 tons of steel and 432 workers across five
different companies to build. But it's possible that creating four experimental sliding bridges would've taken even more than that. Although that's just a theory. Why do you think this
design never materialized? Let me know down in the comments. The Knock-off of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty is one of the most iconic American symbols there is. But what if I told you that
this 150 foot tall lady wasn't meant to embody America at all? She was actually meant to represent Egypt. When egomaniac Auguste
Bartholdi visited Egypt in 1855, he didn't feel awe at
the country's wonders, he felt jealous. He took one look at the carvings of Abu Simbel and thought it was only fair he have a giant statue in the country too. Think I'm being harsh? He once said, "The
Americans believe liberty illuminates the world, in
reality, it's my genius." Geez, I'm amazed he wasn't confused for one of those giant carvings, seeing how big his head was. So Auguste got to work. Eventually designing this statue, called Egypt Carrying the Light to Asia. It was an 86 foot tall statue of an Egyptian farmer on
a 48 foot tall pedestal. It was meant to represent the
industrialization of Egypt and is much humbler looking
than the Statue of Liberty. It would have had a glowing niqab though. It was meant to stand at the Suez Canal, which Egypt had recently finished. The canal is of huge importance to Egypt, even today thousands of ships
pass through it every year, earning the country billions of dollars. So why isn't this lady of
light there to welcome them? Probably because the
country had to take out a high interest loan of over
1 billion Egyptian pounds to finish the project
and didn't wanna cough up for a new statue as well. And, after all, they've
already got hundreds. Annoyed, Bartholdi quickly, and lazily, repurposed the design. France commissioned it for
the equivalent of $6.7 million before gifting it to America,
making the Statue of Liberty a knockoff re-gift of a monument. Oof, that's got me
right in the patriotism. White House Washout. The White House is one of the most well known and important
buildings in America and has been the home of 46 presidents and more than twice as
many presidential dogs. Being the seat of power for one of the most powerful nations
in modern history, it makes sense that there
was some deliberation over the design for the White House. A competition held and
judged by George Washington, that previously mentioned
first ever president, eventually landed on Irish
architect James Hoban's design. Don't tell Washington but
Hoban actually modeled the entire design on Leinster
House in Dublin, his hometown. There were several competing designs that nearly made it through though. This boxy design was
submitted by Phillip Hart but wasn't considered sophisticated or elegant enough for Washington. Here's a pitch from James Diamond, who you'll remember from
his rejected Capitol design. It's distinctive but the staircases are positioned awkwardly far
from the building's entrance. Wait, hang on, go back a picture. Seriously, James, let the chicken go. Founding Father and future
president Thomas Jefferson also happened to be an architect
and submitted this design influenced by classical
European architecture. While Jefferson had no hard feelings about losing the competition,
he also couldn't resist making a few upgrades to the White House while he was president. Like building a wine cellar and installing two water closets upstairs. I guess he really did win in the end. Burgeoning Khalifa. The Burj Khalifa currently stands as the world's tallest skyscraper, coming in at a staggering
2,716 feet and 140 floors. And hey, if that isn't
magnificent enough for you, it almost had a cape. In 2014, designers OP-EN
pitched what would've been the largest art installation in the world. Their idea was to wrap the Burj Khalifa, which again, I must stress, is the biggest building in the world, in a super lightweight fabric. The installation was
to be called Exo-Burj, with the fabric imitating
the Burj Khalifa's own reflective facade. From a distance, the Khalifa would've theoretically reflected the
urban landscape of Dubai. Whereas, up close, it
would've reflected the viewer. Fan shaped support structures
would've cascaded down, keeping the material in place. This would've turned the Burj Khalifa into the world's tallest mirror, which I'm sure all the local
birds would've appreciated. If the Burj Khalifa is 2,716 feet tall and has a width of about 557 feet, this would mean that the
veil would be equal to 243,668 square feet of material. Mm that's bigger than two
entire Manhattan city blocks. So why didn't the Burj become
a giant reflective tube? Well, it may have been
pitched at a bad time. In 2014, the Burj Khalifa's management announced they couldn't even afford to keep air conditioning
and elevators running. So giving the building the
world's biggest bridal veil probably wasn't at the top
of their priority list. The Washington Shrine. The Washington Monument stands today as one of America's most enduring, elegant and uncomplicated landmarks. Nothing wrong with being simple but it wasn't always destined
to be so understated. After architect Robert
Mills won a competition to design a monument commemorating America's founding father,
George Washington, he went nuts. His initial 1836 proposal
was this enormous, almost religious-looking, structure. At the base was a large
classical style temple 250 feet in diameter and 100 feet high. From the center, a huge 500
foot column would emerge, with a statue of Washington
riding a horse drawn carriage resting over the main entrance. So what happened? Well, the National
Washington Monument Society, who ran the competition,
relied on public funds. As it turns out ambitious,
unique and grand projects estimated to cost more than $1 million, roughly $30 million today, don't mix super well with public funding. Construction didn't even begin until 1848, 12 years after Mills submitted his entry. And in 1856, the money and enthusiasm for the project completely dried up. The monument sat unfinished
for decade after decade before Congress had to step in in 1876, 40 years after the competition began. By this point, Mills was long dead. And maybe that's for the best. When Congress took over the project, they stripped Mills' design down to the cheapest thing they
could call a finished job. While it stands now at
an impressive 555 feet, that's still 45 feet short
of what Mills envisioned. Well, compared to what it could have been, the Washington Monument today looks more like a Washington toothpick. Sydney Danger House. The Sydney Opera House
is one of the world's most recognizable buildings. Love it or hate it, there's
no denying that its design is distinct, memorable
and totally one of a kind. That's why it's so bizarre to learn that, not only could it have looked different, but it was nearly the total opposite of the building we know today. In 1956, the international
competition to design the national opera house was opened and eventually won by
Danish architect Jorn Utzon. But an American architect
named Joseph Marzella came in close second
place with this blueprint. Its brutalist design features sharp angles and invokes a much more
powerful and intimidating feel. You know, exactly what
you want for the opera. In all seriousness though,
it's pretty interesting they went with the design they did. Utzon's entry into the competition was just as bold as Marzella's, but felt lighter, freer and more playful. Looking at the two designs
side by side though, I don't know if the current design could look much lighter or fluffier, unless of course it
was made out of pastry. I bet the acoustics in there
would be terrible though. Life Under Glass. The sixties were a time of
great change in America. Music was becoming more experimental, youths were converting to hippyism and mad super villains were
trying to encase cities in giant snow globes. No I'm not joking. Meet eccentric architect
R Buckminster Fuller who, in 1960, came up with the crazy idea to build a giant glass
dome over Manhattan. This dome would've been made from wire reinforced shatterproof glass. At its full height, Fuller's dome would've reached a whole mile into the air and stretched from 62nd street
all the way to 22nd street, making it 1.8 miles in diameter. In Fuller's vision,
the dome would resemble a glistening hemisphere of
mirror from the outside. Sounds like more of a road hazard to me. So what would the benefits
be of life under the dome? According to Fuller, it would keep cities comfortable regulated
temperature all year round, saving individuals up to 80% on heating. The city would also not have
to pay for snow removal, which Fuller claims would've paid for the dome within 10 years. While his exact math on
this costing is unknown, today New York City pays 1.8 million per inch of snowfall it removes. Now, to be fair, old Bucky,
he wasn't totally nuts. In his proposal, he acknowledged the project likely wouldn't get funding but that it would be an excellent way to design cities in the future. What do you think, would you mind living in a giant fishbowl? Let me know down in the comments. Christ the Transporter. Since it was finished in 1931, Christ the Redeemer, or Cristo Redentor, has arguably become Brazil's
most well known landmark. The nearly 100 foot
tall statue is known for its warm, open arms, which
themselves span 90 feet. That's almost as long
as three school buses. Because of the statue's positioning, it looks like Christ is
opening his arms wide, ready to embrace the city
of Rio de Janeiro below. Surely this is a commentary on Christ's warm, loving, and forgiving nature. Nope. Originally Christ was just meant to be carrying a bunch of stuff. The statue was commissioned
by a group of Brazilians who feared, after World War I, that Brazil was at risk of becoming a less God-fearing nation. They viewed the statue
as a way to reclaim Rio on behalf of Christianity. The original design by
Heitor da Silva Costa had Jesus carrying an
enormous cross in one hand and a globe in the other. While this was probably symbolic of, I don't know, Christ's
morning forearm routine, you've gotta admit it looks a lot busier than the final design. Even people at the time
mocked the mock up, dubbing it the less rousing
Christ With A Ball monument. Da Silva Costa eventually teamed up with a man named Carlos
Oswald and together they decided that Christ
himself should be the cross. Inspired thinking there. Although I like to think
he's just lining up for the most catastrophic
crowd surf in history. (upbeat music) And there you have it, a little sneak peek into an alternate world where
Manhattan's under a dome, there's a chicken on the White House and Mount Rushmore still isn't finished. Which was your favorite design? Are there any you wish had been built instead of what we ended up getting? Let me know down in the comments
and thanks for watching.
