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Monuments and buildings of significance are often strategically located on prominent and highly visible properties. Ensuring that these structures are easily identifiable emphasizes their grandeur and importance, in addition to enhancing the aesthetic appeal of a city's built landscape. In many cases, these showpiece elements of the urban fabric serve as terminating vistas, defining the view at the end or middle of a particular street.
Perhaps the most famous example of a terminating vista is the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, where twelve straight avenues meet to form Place Charles de Gaulle. The resulting scene of a tree-lined boulevard ending with the magnificent archway creates the perfect postcard image. Similarly, the United States Capitol is the terminating vista for several Washington D.C. roads, including the National Mall and North, South, and East Capitol Streets.
Terminating vistas typically complicate traffic and adherence to a simple street grid layout. As a result, terminating vistas are rare in places like New York, which is famous for its rectangular city blocks. Grand Central Terminal and the MetLife Building in the middle of Park Avenue are notable exceptions. Anyone who has seen the 1996 disaster film Independence Day may think the Empire State Building is also a terminating vista, though the filmmakers actually altered the view to make the scene more dramatic. In reality, there are no streets leading directly to the face of the Empire State Building.
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