Edifavorite English critic Tom Dyckhoff’s current piece for the London Times Online will annihilate you with laughter. It’s a nostalgic if queasy tour down the mixed-up memory lane of Britain’s lost decade, the one that saw Arne Jacobsen’s rust-colored Danish Embassy, Norman Foster’s muddy-windowed IBM offices near Portsmouth, and a lot of regrettable orange wall-to-wall carpeting. Yes, the 70’s were a strange time for the Brits—but Dyckhoff’s message is that some buildings from the period, however eccentric, are worth saving. Is it any different in the States? Heck no! Here’s five buildings, right off the cuff; some may not be easy to love, but all deserve our respect. At left, number five, M. Paul Friedberg’s Waterside Plaza, at 25th St. on the East River: a massive ensemble with a jagged silhouette, on a plinth sticking right out into the river. It’s boss! Read our list, then trash it and tell us your own.

1970s Architecture: What Would You Save from the Decade Style Forgot? [Times]

Pennzoil Place, Houston, Texas, 1976: You gotta love that period when Philip Johnson was flirting with historicism, but hadn’t gone all Chippendale clock yet.

Hey, it’s an obvious one—but since they’re threatening to paint it silver and change its name, it bears repeating…

The 70’s was when men were men and Frank Gehry was f*!cking perfect. Gehry House, Santa Monica, 1978.

I.M. Pei’s East Building of the National Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1978. Scrumdiddlyumptious.