Don Miguel

The Stock Exchange from the European Tileset in SimCity 3000 was based on the Palais Brongniart in Paris, which used to house the Paris stock exchange (Bourse de Paris).

Schnittjer Printing from SimCity 4 was inspired by the pre-expansion version of the Bankers Life Company building in Des Moines, Iowa.

Cho & Sons from the Houston tileset was based on the C.W. Moore Plaza in Boise, Idaho.

It's actually 1130 Howard St in San Francisco... Here is what it looks like now...

Oops. Never mind. It's actually this courthouse in Landau, Germany.

The Courthouse from SimCity's European tileset may have been inspired by the Bode Museum in Berlin. Edit: This is wrong. See my next post

The Museum from SimCity 4 looks a lot like the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas.

The Museum from the European Tileset in SimCity 3000 was based on the Altes Museum in Berlin.

Grove Consulting from SimCity 4 was based on the Hofmann Building in Ottumwa, Iowa.

Villars Apartments from SimCity 3000 is could be loosely based on it too...

This is Ingebretson Place from SimCity 4. It's based on the long demolished Savoy-Plaza Hotel in New York City. Before you say it looks nothing like it, take a closer look and you will find similarities that are more than just coincidences: The balconies are in the same places. The wings of the buildings have 3 columns each of single windows with the same rustication pattern. The parapets/balusters on top of each setback. The windows on the left and right sides of the top floors (skinny window - wide window - skinny window) So it looks Maxis used the Savoy-Plaza Hotel as a starting point and made some modifications like removing the mansard roof and adding another setback with a pool in the middle of the top floors.

Lee Avionics, a high tech Industrial building from SimCity 4 looks like it was based on Uniklinikum Aachen, a university hospital in Aachen, Germany.

Is Jolly Manor loosely based on the long demolished City Investing Building in New York City?

Hmmm... I could be wrong, but I wonder if Ryan Apartments from the New York tileset in SimCity 4 is a loosely based rendition of the New Yorker Hotel in New York. The setback style on the front facade is very similar with a few minor differences. The window placements also seem to match for the most part. And even though the side facade on the Maxis version has only one protrusion, it looks like a collapsed version of the three from the real building. What do you think?

Kuruptz Inc from SimCity 3000's Euro tileset was apparently based on Haus des Reisens in Berlin, Germany.