Before downtown Chicago had it's silver Cloud Gate, a.k.a "The Bean", architect Wallace Harrison had already perfected the ovoid design with this edifice located in Empire State Plaza. The Egg took 12 years to build, from 1966 to 1978 and unlike the aforementioned Chicago structure, it can hold plenty of people. In fact, as you enter, the hall leads visitors into two theaters. The Lewis A. Swyer Theater and the Kitty Carlisle Hart Theater; both seat 450 and 982 people, respectively. The smaller theater hosts various concerts, lectures, and workshops, and the Hart holds a stage for larger productions like musicals and plays. Despite the performance schedule, people really come to see The Egg's peculiar shape inside and out. It truly is a work of absolute wonder in 20th-century architecture.