Beyond being a landmark, the Golden Gate Bridge is considered one of the “Seven Wonders of the Modern World.” While the bridge is often photographed on a sunny day, where it contrasts magnificently with blue sky and blue water, on many days the bay is actually gray, windy and socked in fog. The orange color, therefore, is a safety feature which improves visibility for ships and aircraft.
This concession to practicality was not the only inadvertent design choice to later become world-renowned. A 1937 report by the chief engineer laments that the originally planned cantilever-suspension type bridge was “abandoned in favor of the simple suspension type.”
