Not that Seattle hadn't tried. The city was founded in 1852, and only 50 years later the Olmsted firm was brought in from Boston to lay out an ambitious park system, an arboretum, and (later) the University of Washington. In the 1920s, New York architect George B. Post built the grand Olympic Hotel. However, most of the downtown buildings were the work of competent but unexceptional local practitioners. The 1962 World's Fair brought Seattle national attention—and the Space Needle, which became the city's icon. The U.S. Pavilion at the fair was designed by Minoru Yamasaki, the first Seattle-born architect to achieve widespread recognition (the following year, he began work on New York's World Trade Center and appeared on the cover of Time). Yamasaki developed a quirky personal style that has been described as "cyber-Gothic." His chief contribution to downtown Seattle is the bizarre Rainier Bank Tower (1979), which, elevated on an eight-story-high, flared, windowless base, resembles a giant hi-fi speaker.