Prosper.com - the best architecture

As prosper.com passes 90 days of "quiet period", I thought it was a good time to compare Prosper's innovative architecture with the competition. That's the famous Ghostbusters building on the left, where Sigourney Weaver helped Gozer the Destroyer visit Earth. The building on the right contains Prosper.com headquarters, where... Lets just say I'm developing a theory.

Thus begins the study of comparative modern gothic horrors.


These buildings look a lot alike, at least from a distance. Similar construction, color, height, age. Each is square until about floor 15 where some sort of Art Deco thing begins to happen. The architectural detail, however, is entirely different.

The ghostbusters building, 55 Central Park West, New York, was built in 1929. It is famous, thanks to the movie and the famous real people who live there. But it is ugly and flat when viewed close up. At street level it looks like an old warehouse. Looking up you see what appear to be air conditioners hanging out of windows. New Yorker's pardon me... Its a dump.

The Hunter-Dulin building, 111 Sutter St, San Francisco, was built in 1927. It is a gothic palace with beautiful and amazing architectural detail. The books all say "It is San Francisco's only building with Romanesque and French Chateau ornamentation." I didn't know what that meant either, but I do now, and I'm gonna show you.

Oh, and it is home to Prosper.com . And Prosper's not just on just any floor. They're on the top floor. The famous top floor. Just below 20 gothic spires tuned to the fifth resonance of the ectoplasmic membrane. (You can see two of 'em in the picture above.) But I digress.

In a future installment, we'll go inside 111 Sutter for a behind-the-scenes tour. You'll meet some of the inhabitants, learn what really goes on there, and why Gozer picked the wrong building.

I'm gonna take you right up to the top floor where Prosper.com lives. We might even venture onto the roof, if the guard's not lookin'. Stay tuned .

PS: For photo credits, click on the photos.