The scene included with Thrillist’s ranking of College Hill, including the Art Club on Thomas across from the “creepy yet gorgeous” First Baptist Church.

GoLocalProv.com posted a story this morning ranking College Hill as the “fourth most beautiful neighborhood in America.” The website Thrillist.com published the list, and ranked Boston’s Beacon Hill as No. 1. It’s hard to argue with that. But Thrillist cast its rankings in doubt with its description of College Hill by suggesting that the modernist Granoff Center, at Brown, contributes to the neighborhood’s beauty.

This is pure folly. Every beautiful place is not perfectly beautiful. Each has buildings that add to or detract from its beauty. The most beautiful have more of the former and fewer of the latter than other beautiful places. We all know which side of the ledger the Granoff sits on. It is sad that Thrillist’s judges are pikers when it comes to the arithematic of the pick.

Also, the photo above is not exactly the one I’d use. If I’d been the Thrillist photog, I’d have taken the shot from North Main Street, showing the front facade of the church (which it associates with H.P. Lovecraft) and the Art Club buildings arrayed just beyond, along Thomas. The Thrillist shot has the Darth Vader Building closing the view, a definite turn-off. Oh well.

Here is the entire list: 1. Beacon Hill. 2. Central Park West Historic District. 3. Bungalow Heaven, in Pasadena. 4. College Hill. 5. Garden District, in New Orleans. 6. Sea Cliff, in San Francisco. 7. Hyde Park, in Chicago. 8. Savannah Historic District. 9. Victorian Village, in Columbus. 10. Capitol Hill, in Denver.